Situated at the base of Cheyenne Mountain’s northern flank on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, North Cheyenne Cañon Park encompasses 1,600 acres of ecotone montane, the ecological borderland blending the Rocky Mountains and the plains. With an extensive trail network and rock climbing crags, the park receives nearly 500,000 visitors annually from nearby Colorado Springs and beyond.
Located just 5 miles from Colorado Springs, North Cheyenne Cañon Park offers easy-to-access, fee-free outdoor adventure opportunities within a bike ride from town. Eight hiking trails boast a diversity of options for hikers of different levels: shorter loops near Gold Camp and South Suburban reservoirs crisscross the northeastern corner of the park, while longer and more challenging trails travel west along the canyon to the Helen Hunt Visitor Center and nearby destinations. Being adjacent to Pike National Forest, North Cheyenne Cañon trails interconnect with miles of additional trails on federally owned land.
At the western end of the park, Helen Hunt Falls cascades 35 feet to Cheyenne Creek. At high flows, it is a photogenic and stunning waterfall to visit. A nearby trail ascends to Silver Cascade Falls, more modest in scale. The Starsmore Visitor and Nature Center is tucked into an aspen and pine forest that is beautifully landscaped with Colorado wildflowers and offers a covered pavilion where visitors can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. Near the Starsmore Discovery Center, the park boasts the White Fir Botanical Reserve.
Picnic areas and trails parallel North Cheyenne Creek and South Cheyenne Canyon Road, where visitors can pause on their journey to eat a meal and watch for the park’s abundant wildlife. Animal species include black bear, mountain lion, mule deer, kingfisher, American dipper, and broad-tailed hummingbird.
North Cheyenne Cañon Park is one of the oldest crags in the Pikes Peak area, and it offers sport routes, some trad routes, and ice climbs. A handful of areas offer a range of difficulty spanning from 5.5 to 5.13a. The rock is granite.
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