Those Magnificent Rocks

Geologists claim that the story of the Garden of the Gods began nearly 300 million years ago, when sediment from the Ancestral Rockies was carried eastward and spread out into great alluvial fans. This sediment was then reddened by ferric iron and long covered by a shallow inland sea.

Some sixty million years ago - when the modern Rocky Mountains began their upward thrust - the horizontal sedimentary rocks were elevated and tilted skyward. The forces of wind and rain then gradually stripped away the softer layers, sculptering each rock into the form we see today: Gateway Rocks, Tower of Babel, Balanced Rock, Cathedral Spires, Three Graces, Sleeping Indian, Siamese Twins, Scotsman, Pig's Eye.

The Garden of the Gods

Some of the whimsical names given to the rocks in the Garden of the Gods date back to the great Pikes Peak Gold Rush. They were preserved, changed and added to by generations of later tour drivers and tourists, and finally preserved for posterity by a Colorado Springs policeman named Robert Wraith. Wraith made a study of the names; everytime he heard an old- timer talking about a certain rock, he asked to have it pointed out. When World War II brought thousands of servicemen to the area, Wraith began taking parties of G.I.'s through the Garden of the Gods every weekend. The names he gave the rocks on these tours have remained largely unchanged to this day.

The Kissing Camels

Signature Rock

White Rock

Cathedral Rock

The Bear and the Seal

Balanced Rock

The Siamese Twins

E-mail me at GehlingR@aol.com