The Foothills

Afternoon reflections in a pond brimming with rainwater along the Red Rock Canyon Trail (hike 7).

Colorado Springs spreads across the foothills below Pikes Peak. These low hills, rising sharply from the plains as rocky hogbacks and broad mesas, form distinctive landscapes. Some of the most spectacular natural features in the Pikes Peak region, including the famed sandstone formations at the Garden of the Gods as well as Red Rock Canyon Open Space and Palmer Park, lie within the foothills zone against the towering mountain escarpment. Numerous trails, mostly easy and moderate in difficulty, thread through these natural parks, offering quick and easy hiking getaways from the bustle of Colorado Springs, the forty-first-largest city in the United States.