Mark Flower’s Colorado: Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak and the Sand Dunes

Mark Flower had lived in Colorado for three years when he shared this set of photographs in 2015. He spent his weekends and free days outdoors, from the red rocks of Colorado Springs to fourteeners, high passes and the tallest sand dunes in North America. The result is a portrait of a state seen through repeated, close-to-home adventures.

Garden of the Gods and Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods is a free public park of about 1,341 acres on the west side of Colorado Springs. Its tilted red sandstone fins and towers were pushed up during the Laramide Orogeny, the same mountain-building episode that raised the Rockies, and in 1971 much of the park was named a National Natural Landmark. The land was given to the city by the Perkins family in 1909 on condition that it stay free to the public, and entry is still free today, as is the Visitor and Nature Center.

Flower photographed the park again and again: on Christmas morning, on a snowy day and at night. Snow traces every ledge of the red rock, while darkness turns the formations into silhouettes.

Nearby Palmer Park, another Colorado Springs city park, gave him sunrises and winter hikes.

Pikes Peak, America's Mountain

Pikes Peak rises above Colorado Springs to about 14,115 feet (4,302 m), the easternmost fourteener in the United States. Zebulon Pike tried and failed to climb it in November 1806; Edwin James made the first documented ascent in 1820. The view from the top inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful” in 1893.

Today you can drive the 19-mile Pikes Peak Highway, ride the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, the highest cog railway in the world, or hike the Barr Trail. Every New Year's Eve the AdAmAn Club climbs the mountain and sets off fireworks from the summit at midnight.

Fourteeners, high passes and the Maroon Bells

Mount Bierstadt, reached from Guanella Pass just south of Georgetown, is one of Colorado's most popular fourteeners. It stands 14,064 feet (4,287 m) high and is named after the painter Albert Bierstadt, who made the first recorded ascent in 1863. The route is a non-technical hike of about 7 miles with roughly 2,400 feet of climbing; July and August are the best months.

Near Aspen, the Maroon Bells are among the most photographed mountains in North America. Maroon Peak (14,163 ft) and North Maroon Peak (14,019 ft) owe their colour to Maroon Formation mudstone, a weak, fractured rock that makes them dangerous to climb. From mid-June to early October a shuttle bus runs from Aspen Highlands to Maroon Lake, and private cars are mostly restricted during its hours.

Independence Pass on Highway 82, east of Aspen, crosses the Sawatch Range and usually closes to traffic from late October until Memorial Day because of snow.

Telluride and the Great Sand Dunes

Above Telluride, Bridal Veil Falls drops 365 feet, the highest unbroken waterfall in Colorado. The building at its top is the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Power Plant, built in 1907 to power the Smuggler-Union mine. Restored in the early 1990s, it still produces about a quarter of Telluride's electricity with its original Westinghouse generator.

In the San Luis Valley, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve protects the tallest dunes in North America. Star Dune reaches about 750 feet (229 m). The area became a national monument in 1932 and a national park in 2004. Visit in late May or early June to see Medano Creek's surge flow, when small waves ripple down the creek at the foot of the dunes.

Colorado wildlife: elk, moose and birds

Flower's wildlife photos break up the big panoramas. Elk are a familiar sight around Estes Park, the gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park. Keep a long lens and a good distance: elk and moose are large, fast and protective, especially mothers with young.

See more of his work at markflowerphotography.com.

Related reading

• Colorado’s mountain towns
• Karol Nienartowicz’s decade in the Tatras
• Silverthorne’s Ice Castle: Tunnels, Arches and Frozen Light
• Colorado Snowboarding with Hofgaard, Bittner, Botner and Helgason
• The Buffalo Pass Snow Pit: Understanding a 194-Inch Measurement

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