Tent Camping Ninjas: Cheyenne Mountain State Park (Colorado Springs, CO)

http://www.parks.state.co.us/Parks/CheyenneMountain/Camping/Pages/Cheyenne%20Mountain%20State%20Park%20%20Camping%20Page.aspx

For those in the know, Cheyenne Mountain is the location of…the Stargate! We aren’t totally crazy. Feel free to rain on my parade and tell me that it is only NORAD, and Stargate is a television show that does not really exist. It was still all sorts of fun to be there.

If you find yourself in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain is also wonderful for several other reasons. Cheyenne Mountain State Park area is much less crowded than the other places we visited. It is on the south side of Colorado Springs, so it is out of the touristy craziness of Manitou Springs. We were within a quick drive to grocery stores and other amenities (a huge movie theater and Chuck E. Cheese were 12 minutes away). The state park itself has a GORGEOUS view of the city. Almost every camping site seems to benefit from the awesome view.

We were at site 48 in the Meadow loop...

(48 has an upper area for the tent, and lower area for cooking)

(above is the trail down from our site to the parking lot)

(The cooking/picnic table area of site 48)

There are a string of walk-back camp sites on that path which are fantastic. 48 is the “penthouse” of campsites. I had read other reviews that said this was the best site, and they are probably correct. It is the most spacious with a great view. The only drawback is the walk up to it. Since there are no bear boxes, all food has to be lugged up and down. We ate every meal out, packing sandwiches for lunch. So for our purposes it was just fine.

For those who are only over-nighting (or campfire cooking), 46 is a good option. It is right next to the parking lot, yet still quiet and close to the bathroom. Note, even though these are walk back sites, they are closer to the bathroom than the other sites in the Meadows loop. We didn’t see any bears, but we did see mule deer, rabbits, and lizards. All the walk-back sites have some shade and, I think, are prettier than the other sites at the park.

The bathrooms were very clean and new. We were not a fan of the pay showers. Although they were clean-ish, $1.00 for 4 minutes of showering is a little ridiculous. The water was sometimes cold, leaving me amazed I had actually paid a dollar for a cold shower. There is a main building with a laundry room, many pay showers, and a playground. The kids loved that playground. Next to our site in the meadow loop, however, there is just one shower in the “family” bathroom. That was also annoying on a morning when there was a line for that one shower. Not so annoying that we got in the car to drive to the main shower house, though.

In regards to trails, there is a trail that goes down from the amphitheater. We took it to the “cougar shadow” trail. With the three kids, this had some great views and nature “stuff.” We did turn around about half-way through when a runner told us they had spotted several bear cubs up ahead of us. Which leads me to the final aspect which I loved about Cheyenne Mountain: the trails were not crowded, yet there were enough people around to give a heads up if a bear or rattlesnake was spotted. (picture of trail below)