Last summer, we spent a week in the beautiful town of Colorado Springs with our kids. We had the best time exploring the city, trying new foods, and finding some incredibly beautiful places. At the time of our visit, my youngest had just turned 1 and my oldest was 5, and we had never really hiked before.
Well let me assure you, Colorado Springs is the perfect place for beginning hikers! There are so many family friendly places to hike and explore that really pack a huge punch. Anytime you can find a beautiful, scenic hike that is easy enough for my toddler to do, I call that a win!
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This was such an incredible place to explore, and had so much beauty to take in. This 1,400 acre city park in Colorado Springs is the perfect place for kids of all ages to get some fresh air and wiggles out. It’s full of stunning sandstone rock formations and has multiple trails of varying difficulty levels.
The day we visited, there was hardly anyone there and we had the trails to ourselves. We chose to hike the Mesa trail, which is just over 2.5 miles and has very minimal incline, which makes it toddler friendly. You walk parallel to the canyons, which gives you a great view of them and provides for some really cool pictures. You also have a great view of Pikes peak and Garden of the Gods from this trail.
We loved exploring the beautiful rock formations, the lush summer greenery, and saw lots of wildlife as well, including deer, chipmunks, and tons of different bird species. We didn’t have to hike long or far to see lots of beautiful views, which makes this a perfect place to wander with littles.
It has a similar feel to Garden of the Gods, although not quite as impressive, but had much lower crowds during the week we visited. This made it much more enjoyable for us.
This was our favorite hike that we did while visiting Colorado Springs! Tunnel drive is located in Canyon City, about an hour outside of Colorado Springs. We traveled to Canyon City as a day trip, which you can read more about here.
This hike is 2-miles long and is located about 1 mile from downtown Canyon City. From this trail, you have stunning views of the Arkansas River and surrounding canyon, and you walk through three granite-blasted tunnels along the path. The hike itself is easy, with minimal incline and flat, smooth gravel to walk on. Really, the only part that has much incline is from the parking lot to the trailhead. After that, it’s very kid friendly, and you can easily bring your stroller or wagon along the smooth path.
The tunnels are beyond cool, and my kids absolutely loved walking through them. We were able to watch rafters going down the Arkansas river, and could see the Royal Gorge train pass by.
Make sure after you walk through each of the tunnels to turn around and look up! We saw long horned sheep above one of the tunnels, and they were so neat to watch. We also saw a few deer and several different types of birds, as well as tons of gorgeous cacti and wildflowers.
Have you hiked in Colorado Springs with kids before? Tell me some of your favorite trails and off the beaten path places in the comments!