Cheyenne Cañon — Prairie Trails, a Wild Canyon & the Front Range Overlooks

On the southwest edge of Colorado Springs, the plains buckle up against the mountains in one unbroken sweep, and two of the region's finest wild places sit within twenty-five minutes of downtown. This relaxed day pairs the rolling prairie-to-foothills trails of Cheyenne Mountain State Park with the tumbling granite gorge of North Cheyenne Cañon, a stream-carved canyon of waterfalls and towering rock walls threaded by an easy scenic road. In between there is the small, hands-on Starsmore Discovery Center at the canyon's mouth and a string of overlooks where the whole Front Range and the plains beyond open up at once. It is a day of shade, running water, and big views — the mountains at their most accessible, with none of the crowds of the famous parks.