Garden of the Gods

~Walk around the boulder from the trail (look for the stacked rocks as a marker) at the point described in the "location"). Follow the long vertical wall around the arête. Then follow the long face to the 2nd tree of the 3 close trees on the back face of the boulder (the middle, 2nd tree has a crazy set of roots out to the left.

5ft to the right of the 2nd tree will be the stand start. Start on good lobes with high feet and follow up the fun face on erratic, easy jug gastons to the top out directly above.

At the very end of the LRT (if you come down from the upper lookout past the MOW) this will be the final area before the loop is finished and you are deposited back to your car.

Alternately, if you simply hike downhill from the lower lot instead of hiking the normal loop starting at the upper lookout, this will be the very first area you come to, and it isn’t very close to the lot. If you hike down from the lower lot, look for the Trails End Boulder which will be on the right and just off the trail. It is egg shaped on the downhill side, and 10 feet off of the trail. At this point, you have passed the Colorado Boulder by a few feet, so turn around, walk up the trail a short way and look to your right.

The Colorado Boulder is easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it even though it is massive. it faces away from the trail.

Look to your right and you will see a vertical, long, tapered wall that increases in size the further away from the trail you go. The majority of the problems are around the corner from here on the back of the face.

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