While human activity on the land that’s now Colorado Springs’ popular Red Rock Canyon Open Space is believed to date back 9,000 years, this chunk of nature has lived many lives since – including that of a quarry, a garbage dump, and the home of long-lost dreams that involved the creation of a sprawling resort community.

Today, Red Rock Canyon Open Space is well-established as an outdoor recreation hub on the west side of Colorado Springs, featuring trails that fill with hikers, bikers, runners, and horses and that are interconnected with routes to numerous peaks in the Pikes Peak foothills for those with a good grasp of geography and the stamina to match. While the view from the parking lot is a bit humble, the wonder of the open space is revealed just a few steps into nature – stunning rock formations, ample wildlife, and views that stretch for miles.

Access rules have changed over the years, and while it’s hard to believe at times, the sprawling landscape hasn’t always been open to public use – granted, that might be a bit more apparent when trailgoers start to notice how giant chunks of rock have been sliced away from canyon walls or how the rare piece of trash from yesteryear creeps out of the soil after a rainy day.

According to the City of Colorado Springs, the earliest activity on the land that now comprises Red Rock Canyon Open Space dates back to about 7000 B.C., when this space would have been considered an ideal area for settlement thanks to its proximity to Fountain Creek and the abundant wildlife in the area. Per Rocky Mountain Field Institute, archaeological evidence suggests that among those who settled in the area between then and now were American Indian tribes that included the Jicarilla Apache and the Utes, with evidence being stone artifacts and tools found in the central area of the park.

By the mid-1800s, however, the area had taken on a new life, providing building supplies for the nearby Old Colorado City and surrounding developments at the time of the Pikes Peak region’s mining boom. From the quarries on the property, gypsum, building sand, and sandstone blocks were pulled, with the Kenmuir Quarry – the quarry most visitors to the park would recognize – said to be mined seven days a week due to such high demand. Marks left behind by the mining can still be seen in the space today, with sharp-angle cuts clearly visible in the rock of an otherwise very natural and wild landscape.

The mining didn’t last forever though, and as new materials like concrete and steel worked their way into the construction industry, the demand for stone dropped. Much of the quarry activity at what’s now Red Rock Canyon Open Space closed in the early part of the 20th century, per the City of Colorado Springs.

The area didn’t transition into a park after that, though, still playing an important role in the industrial world. By 1886, the land started to be used to refine ore that was extracted from gold mines in the Cripple Creek region, brought to the Colorado Springs area via train. According to the City of Colorado Springs, this was the largest mill of its type nationwide until the Golden Cycle Mill opened a few miles east in 1905.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the land that makes up Red Rock Open Space was purchased by a man named John George Bock, later passed down to his two sons. The overarching plan of the family was to turn the space into “a resort community with a convention center, high-rise towers, commercial centers, and a golf course.” Those dreams never came to fruition though, and the land instead became home to “a few residences and outbuildings, two dozen mobile home sites, a 53-acre landfill, and two gravel quarries.”

Despite falling short of this grand idea, the family held onto the land into the 21st century, with Bock’s oldest son, John S. Bock, living on the property until he passed away in 2002. The following year, the City of Colorado Springs purchased the 789 acres dubbed Red Rock Canyon to be converted into the public open space area that it is today.

While the landfill is no longer visible, parkgoers have occasionally found trash from decades ago creeping up over the years, sometimes that of familiar brands with long-forgotten branding. The landfill is located on the southern side of the park, south of the main quarry area. While the landfill area got its start with a much smaller request from John S. Bock to zone 7.34 acres for such a purpose in the Gypsum Canyon area in 1970, it grew over time. The idea seemed to be that filling the land would allow for the creation of the long-imagined golf course.

In 1973, Bock was able to increase the size of the landfill to 17.89 acres with other size increases taking place through re-zoning until the landfill stopped accepting waste in 1986, per a website dedicated to Red Rock Canyon Open Space.

“The landfill site had become the most extensive remnant of human activity in the Red Rock Canyon area, dwarfing the stone quarries of a century ago,” reads the Red Rock Canyon website.

Now known for offering some of the best mountain biking, rock climbing, and trail running in the city of Colorado Springs, Red Rock Canyon Open Space is a cherished outdoor recreation space in the Pikes Peak region. Following the initial purchase of 789 acres, the city has since expanded its ownership into adjacent properties, roughly doubling its size.

Easy to access off of Highway 24 on the city’s west side, the next time you’re enjoying Red Rock Canyon Open Space, remember that over the last 200 years, it’s spent quite a bit of time as a quarry and a landfill. Be thankful to live at a time when it’s able to be enjoyed via boots on the trail instead.

Learn more about Red Rock Canyon Open Space here.

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