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Pictures Copy Write Protected by Gonzo Productions and Gibson Hazard
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Gibson

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Welcome to the Blog of Gonzo! Tune into this web site to view the latest AWARD WINNING photographs taken by Gibson Hazard of Colorado Springs, Colorado. To really enjoy the photography you can enlarge the pictures by double clicking on it. I hope you enjoy my pictures and my adventures! Cheers...


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North Cheyenne Canon Park in Colorado Springs on a spectacular Colorado fall day. I love this picture! DOUBLE CLICK NOW TO ENLARGE THIS PICTURE TO ENJOY IT IN IT'S FULL GLORY. Picture is copy writed.

One of the most overlooked attractions in Colorado Springs is North Cheyenne Canon Park. This is where I spend a lot of my time hiking and unwinding after work and is only 3 minutes from my house. North Cheyenne Canon Park is Colorado Springs' oldest and most cherished Regional Park. The main entrance is located one-half mile below Seven Falls. Follow the North Cheyenne Creek, which parallels the paved three-mile drive to Helen Hunt Falls where you will find spectacular rock formations; a rich variety of plants, animals and Helen Hunt Falls.

The Park offers a network of hiking, biking and equestrian trails as well as picnic sites. The 1600-acre park includes the most diverse landscape in any Colorado Springs park, provides many hiking trails and water falls that include views of the spectacular Seven Falls and South Cheyenne Canon on Mt. Cutler trail, access to Gold Camp Road and two free Visitor Centers with educational programs for adults and children. Photo taken from Stratton Open Space by Gibson Hazard.

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Cheyenne Canon is rich with both elements of man-made and natural surroundings on the 1,320 acres of this regional park, owned by the City of Colorado Springs. Included on it are two Visitors Centers including the Starsmore Discovery Center and The Cub or Helen Hunt Visitors Center. Each year, at least 70,000 people visit this unique City of Colorado Springs park property. Access to North Cheyenne Canon Park is a gift to all of our citizens and visitors.

From Colorado Springs founding by General Palmer in the 1870s up until the present, this park has been shaped by its various changes in use and how the resources are changed based on demands of the visitors and this is a continuing process.
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North Cheyenne Canon Park is a refuge and has always been for Colorado Springs residences. With the natural falls and wooded areas, it provided a moist escape for the weekends for many early settlers of the Colorado Springs area. Photo taken from Stratton Open Space just outside the entrance of Cheyenne Canon Park, one of my favorite places to hike as you can see why.

By 1883 the park, then owned by Colorado College Land Company, had a wagon road into the Canon, various footpath trails, and was open to the public every day of the week. To show how cherished this park really is, the decision to close the park on Sundays to give park employees a day off lead to public outrage. The gate was torn down, campaigns began speaking out against the closing and even Helen Hunt Jackson (a local writer that drew her inspiration from the Canon) finally gained the reward of having the City of Colorado Springs purchase 640 acres to be used as a city park. At this time the park gained its name Cheyenne Park.
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Entrance of North Cheyenne Canon Park taken from Stratton Open Space. Most of the trails within the Stratton Open Space are easy to moderate in difficulty and offer "loops" that allow users to enjoy the Open Space.

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Fall Foliage looking towards Cheyenne Mountain from Colorado Springs.
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Fall foliage at North Cheyenne Creek. North Cheyenne Creek originates at the Stratton Reservoir on Mount Almagre, (Mount Baldy is a local name). Almagre is the second highest mountain standing to the South of Pikes Peak. Like Pikes Peak, Mount Almagre also rises above the tree line. After flowing over Helen Hunt Falls, the creek continues down North Cheyenne Canon and meets South Cheyenne Creek near the Starsmore Discovery Center. After leaving the Canon, Cheyenne Creek flows into Fountain Creek near the Tejon Wetlands. Fountain Creek travels south and empties into the Arkansas River at Pueblo. The Arkansas flows into the Mississippi River and from New Orleans, Louisiana, empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Close up of the entrance to North Cheyenne Canon Park seen from Gold Camp Road.
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Entrance to North Cheyenne Canon Park seen from Gold Camp Road.
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Fall day at the entrance to the Starsmore Discovery Center in North Cheyenne Canon Park in Colorado Springs, CO.
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StarsmoreDiscovery Center cherished as a local landmark for many years, this stone building was originally the home of the Starsmore family. It was purchased by the City of Colorado Springs and moved to its present location in 1990. It serves as an introduction to North Cheyenne Canon Park and its beautiful waterfalls, rock formations, wildflowers and wildlife. The Starsmore Discovery Center at the base of the Canon is an outstanding example of stone craftsmanship. The 1918 Starsmore Home is now a free Visitor Center for North Cheyenne Canon Park.



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Rock Bridge in North Cheyenne Canon Park. Extensive rock walls and beautiful bridges may be seen throughout North Cheyenne Canon. Some of the bridges date as early as 1914. Some of the stonework in Cheyenne Canon is from the Civilian Conservation Corps Era of the 1930's and the 1940's. The C.C.C. was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" to put people to work during The Great Depression. Their noble mission was to protect the nation's natural resources. These rock works makes North Cheyenne Canon Park a special place.



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Spectacular fall foliage in North Cheyenne Canon Park
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In the spring of 1913, the US Forest Service at Pike National Forest planted 700,000 two to four year-old trees to reforest the slopes of the Canon. The project was completed in only three months.

The progression continued in 1914 when the first stone bridge was constructed followed by several others the following year. And in 1917 automobiles were allowed into the park. Due to the gasoline shortages during the Second World War, automobiles were restricted to driving through the park in the evenings. Since the road was so narrow, there were strict guidelines on hours travelers could ascend and descend the single car width. In 1932 after a trolley system was abandoned, a bus system took its place.

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Beautiful North Cheyenne Canon Park.

The mountains rise abruptly to the west of Colorado Springs, and North Cheyenne Canon Park is cut 1,000-feet deep into the 1.5 billion-year-old granite rock. This outstanding diversity of plant and animal life is known as an Ecotone montane, where mountains meet the foothills and plains. The diversity of life is connected to changes in elevation, sunlight and moisture from the high mountain slopes to the Canon bottom. This 1,600-acre park provides good habitat for large animals such as the Black Bear, Mountain Lion and Mule Deer, and little birds that love water, like the Kingfisher, American Dipper and Broad-tailed Hummingbird.


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I love this picture of the rock spire above the beginning of Mid Columbine Trail in North Cheyenne Canon Park

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Beautiful Colorado fall day in North Cheyenne Canon Park
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Fall in North Cheyenne Canon
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Mid Colmbine Trail Head

Columbine Trail in North Cheyenne Canon Park:
Length: About 4 miles from the Starsmore Discovery Center to the Upper Columbine trailhead.
Elevation: Lower Columbine trailhead 6250 ft, Mid Columbine trailhead 6500 ft, Upper Columbine trailhead 7300 ft

General Description: This trail makes its way up the Canon from behind the Starsmore Discovery Center to the Upper Columbine trailhead near Helen Hunt Falls. The Mid Columbine trailhead is about 1 mile up the road from the main park gate by the Starsmore Discovery Center. The Upper Columbine trailhead is about 350 ft east of Helen Hunt Falls. Hikers, cyclists and equestrians can use this trail.

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Entrance to Mid Columbine Trail
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The Bruin Inn at Helen Hunt Falls in North Cheyenne Canon Park. William Palmer, the founder of the city of Colorado Springs, donated an additional 480 acres to the park in 1907. Before he donated the land he developed a carriage road through the canon and over High Drive, built the shelter pavilion and built the original Mt. Cutler Trails and other trails. Located on this property donated was the original Bruin Inn, constructed in 1881, which was at one time the President of Colorado College Tenneys residence. The Bruin Inn is now the Helen Hunt Visitors Center we call The Cub a tourist attraction and landmark.

Cheyenne Mountain

By easy slope to west as if it had
No thought, when first its soaring was begun
Except to look devoutly to the sun.
It rises, and has risen, until glad
With light as with a garment it is clad.
Each dawn before the tardy plains have won
For us, the light doth cling reluctant sad
To leave its brow. Beloved mount, I
Thy worshipper, as thou the sun¹s, each morn
My dawn, before the dawn, receive from thee;
And think, as thy rose-tinting peak I see,
That thou wert great when Homer was not born,
And ere thou change, all human songs shall die!

Helen Hunt Jackson


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Helen Hunt Falls in North Cheyenne Canon Park

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Helen Hunt Falls in North Cheyenne Canon Park. Helen Hunt Jackson 1820-1885.

Author of children¹s stories, travel sketches, and poems, Jackson wrote thirty books and hundreds of articles for the New York Independent, Atlantic Monthly, and Scribners. Had she not used pen names, fashionable in her day, she would have been more well known. Even so, Ralph Waldo Emerson called her America¹s "greatest woman poet."

The winter of 1873-74 found her at Colorado Springs, Colorado, in search of a cure for a respiratory ailment. It was there that she met William Sharpless Jackson, a Pennsylvania Quaker, wealthy banker, and railroad magnate. They were married on October 22, 1875. For the new Mrs. Jackson this was a fortuitous union since it relieved her of financial worries, thus providing the freedom with her husband's support to pursue her fascination with the American West and its Indians from her home in Colorado. Inspiration Point at Seven Falls in South Cheyenne Canon is also the location of the original gravesite of Helen Hunt Jackson, a very important writer of the late 1800s. It was her last request that she be buried here at the spot that inspired so many of her famous poems. Her original gravesite is now marked by a historic plaque, although her remains now rest in Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.

Helen Hunt Jackson wrote the popular story of Ramona. Since 1884, publishers have reprinted Ramona more than 300 times; directors have filmed the story for large and small screens; and, since 1923, Hemet, California, holds an annual Ramona festival.

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North Cheyenne Creek in North Cheyenne Canon Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado

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Fall view from Gold Camp Road of North Cheyenne Canon Park

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Fall view from Gold Camp Road of North Cheyenne Canon Park
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Tunnel on Gold Camp Road. North Cheyenne Canon Park provides access to Gold Camp Road. Gold Camp Road was built in the 1890's for a narrow gauge railroad to connect Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek mining district, about 20 air miles to the west. The road is about 25 miles long over its entire length. The Cripple Creek area was one of the richest gold producers in history, yielding 5 or 10 billion dollars in ore, adjusted to recent prices. Eventually, the railroad was scrapped and the road bed was converted to vehicle use. There are several narrow tunnels along the road.
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Side of Cheyenne Mountain and Will Rogers Shrine can be seen from Gold Camp Road
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City of Colorado Springs and The Broadmoor on a beautiful Colorado fall day as seen from Gold Camp Road, October 22, 2005
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Zoom shot of The Broadmoor Hotel in full Colorado fall color taken from Gold Camp Road. I think this is a fantastic picture! Double click on it to enlarge it!!!
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35 acre Lake at the Country Club of Colorado and Cheyenne Mountain Resort (Where I work!) with Fall in Full Color taken from historic Gold Camp Road
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Victoria Hazard with Ronald McDonald at the United Air Force Football Game vs UNVL, October 15, 2005
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Senior Airman Matt Beresky at the United States Air Force Academy, October 15, 2005
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Senior Airman Matt Beresky and his Sister Victoria Hazard at the United States Air Force Academy, October 15, 2005
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Hooters girls assisting with the band at the United States Air Force Game vs UNVL, October 15, 2005 (Air Force won)
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Denver Broncos 28 - New England Patriots 20, October 16, 2005
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