GARDEN OF THE GODS

GARDEN OF THE GODS- NATURE’S ARCHITECURAL AND LANDSCAPING MASTERPIECE

Nestled on the lap of mighty Rocky Mountains the state of Colorado enjoys a unique gift of natural parks trails and lakes. One such natural beauty is GARDEN OF THE GODS. We live in Denver and Garden of the Gods is about 51 miles away and it takes about one hour to reach garden of the gods by car. Garden of the Gods is located in Colorado Springs an important town where once the famous Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit lived. It is also the seat of US air force base.

Garden of the Gods is a sandstone rock formaton.

While surveying this area in 1859 FOR A NEW CITY NEAR Denver two surveyors M.S. Beach and Rufus Cable stumbled upon a vast land with sandstone rock formation. Awestricken with its landscape and rock formation M.S.Beach suggested that the place would be ideal for German beer garden. The other surveyor Rufus Cable confirmed that the area was fit for the Gods to assemble and named the land GARDEN OF THE GODS.

By 1870 rail roads came to west and General William Jackson Palmer founded the city of Colorado Springs. He urged his friend Charles Elliot Perkins head of the Q Railroad Company to build his railroad to Colorado Springs and establish a home in Garden of the Gods. Perkins purchased 240 acres for a summer home and added further acreage to the property, but never built on the land, preferring to keep it in its natural state for the public.

In 1907 Perkins passed away and thanks to his great effort the land became a public park. Two years later his children donated his 480 acres to the City of Colorado Springs where it would be known as the GARDEN OF THE GODS and remain free to the public.

THE history of human activity in the garden of the gods area dates back to nearly 3000 years ago. Stone hearths and fire rings bear testimony to this. The native American tribe Ute lived in this area prior to their relocation to reservations in southwestern Colorado and north eastern Utah.

Multiple native American Indian tribes like Apache, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee and Ute travelled through Garden of the Gods

The first white men in the form of mountain men and trappers came to this area in the 1840s while the homesteaders (families) settled in early 1860s.

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY

The rock formation in Garden of the Gods Colorado have been shaped by geological process over hundreds of millions of years including

Sedimentation where ancient seas, streams and winds deposited thick layers of sediment that hardened into rock overtime. These were created as ancient mountains eroded and were buried in their own sediments. Massive sand dunes moved across the land and shallow seas and deeper oceans encroached and retreated. Each environment left behind gravel, sand and ocean deposits that formed HORRIZONTAL LAYERS over millions of years.

The VERTICAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS IN THE GARDEN OF THE GODS WERE ONCE FLAT LAYERS THAT BECAME UPRIGHT DUE TO SERIES OF MOUNTAIN BUILDING EVENTS.

Around 65 million years ago the modern-day Rockies began to form a series of Earth altering events. These events caused the sandstone to shift with profound movement occurring near the major faults, one of which runs through the Garden of the Gods Park, LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF PARKS IMPRESSIVE SEDIMENTARY ROCK SPIRES.

IT IS THIS SEDIMENTARY ROCK SPIRES GIVE THE UNIQUE BEAUTY TO THE LANDSCAPE OF THE GARDEN OF THE GODS.

The following pictures will tell you the spectrum of the beauty. Enchanted by the beauty of the rock formation visitors’ imagination stoked to give the formations their imaginative names like KISSING CAMELS, COUCHING TIGER AND SITTING FROG

 Our granddaughter climbing the sedimentary rock spire

Imposing sedimentary rocks

panoramic view of the Garden of the Gods

Another panoramic view

Imposing sedimentary spires 

Breathtaking geological sculpture        

Gods own creation

etched rocks gives feeling of human face

Nature is a great sculptor, face like expression on rock spire

Kissing camels

kissing camels against sunlight

Male deer with antlers called buck

Female deer

Antler male deer

Antler male deer (Telephoto shot)    

Antler male deer

(Telephoto shot)

Imposing spires with visitors

Kissing camels

(Telephoto shot)   

kissing camels against sunlight

(Telephoto shot)     

Rock climber

(Telephoto shot)

Rock climber (Telephoto shot)

 Incredible sedimentary spires    

Crouching tiger (Telephoto shot)

Crouching tiger (Telephoto shot)

sitting frog (Telephoto shot)

sitting frog (Telephoto shot)       

Professor K.A.Balasubramanian

Ph.D. (IARI-New Delhi), Ph. D,(imperial college London), DIC (Imperial College, London)

19th June, 2024

Dallas Texas, USA