Is It Fact, Legend or Myth
This you have seen as part of my background at time.
This Pueblo is situated just outside Colorado Springs city limits.
Not very far from there are also underground caverns worth exploring.
This the final photo change I will be making.
The Garden of the Gods.
Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a sprawling 240 acres of pure heaven.
About 250 million years ago, Garden of the Gods had sandy beaches and an inland sea. The 300 foot orange sandstone rocks in the Garden of the Gods were once sand dunes. Over time, the softer rocks eroded and valleys were created leaving harder rocks standing as the tall ridges in the Park.
Back in 1859, when a surveyor named Rufus Cable first saw the towering fins of rock jutting over 300 feet into the air near Pikes Peak, he enthusiastically declared that it was “A fit place for the gods to assemble!” From this excited outburst came the name Garden of the Gods.
There is another story how the Gardens received its name. Joseph Beach, suggested that it would be a “capital place for a beer garden”. His companion, a young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, “Beer Garden! Why, it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.”
Founded originally by Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who founded the city of Colorado Springs, convinced a friend of his, Charles Elliott Perkins, to buy 240 acres of land known as the Garden of the Gods.
In 1879 Charles Elliott Perkins, purchased 480 acres of land that included a portion of the present day Garden of the Gods. Upon Perkins’ death, his family gave the land to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909, with the provision that it would be a free public park.
Today, The Garden of the Gods Park is a registered National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs.
The rocks themselves are conglomerates of red, pink, and white sandstone and limestone.
They are geologically remarkable due to their vertical and in some cases beyond vertical positions, some as tall as 300 - 500 feet. If you look at the above photo, you can see a few just to the right of center.
One of the most interesting things you will find there, are the faces embedded into the rocks. No, not real faces, but the imagery is there, and interestingly enough, they
resemble an American Indian, and this is where what I am about to explain, so you can decide for yourself if it is fact, myth, or legend.
On any clear blue sky day, you can walk around, take photos, and simply marvel at the varied structures. You may even find rock climbers there.
But on any clear blue sky day, you will also see beautiful white puffy clouds. And this is about clouds.
They say if you see a cloud appear out of nowhere and then disappear as suddenly as it appeared, it is one of the Indians, who at one time either lived on the land or in some form were associated with the land. Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Ute Nations had passed through the Garden of the Gods at some point in time. Perhaps an overnight encampment, a tempoary village, no one really knows for certain.
But it is said the clouds that appear and disappear, are ghosts of those who passed through and watch over the land to make sure it remains healthy and pure. It has also been claimed that anyone who defaces any part of the Garden of the Gods, seemingly meets with some form of disaster for their reckless actions, but that too, is difficult to prove.
As I write this, I can say from personal experience, I have witnessed six different clouds (and let me expand slightly, they are more like puffs of smoke than clouds but they look like small clouds), appear from nowhere, and disappear to somewhere. They last but a few seconds and are gone. Eerie? Interesting? Strange? Fact? Myth, or Legend?
But don’t take my word on this alone. Visit the Garden of the Gods one day when you take a vacation and find out for yourself. Admission is free and so is the parking.
Oh, and don’t forget to bring your camera, or make sure your cell phone is charged.
You will take a grip of pictures.
As an added plus to all this, Pike’s Peak isn’t all that far away.