By foot, horseback or car, Garden of the Gods never fails to amaze

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 1, 2004 by BILL REED THE GAZETTE

On an overcast Saturday morning, Fred and Deb McQuiston of Valley Forge, Pa., are the first tourists to land on the doorstep of the Garden of the Gods Visitors Center.

They are snapping pictures by 7:45 a.m., since they're also planning to hit the Air Force Academy and Pikes Peak before driving to Vail.

The only other people at the park are locals, biking and jogging through the gray morning.

When the doors open at 8, the McQuistons stride inside and are greeted at the information kiosk by Forrest Sim, 21, a bright-eyed employee of the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department.

"How are you doing?" McQuinston asks.

"Ridiculously well!" Sim answers.

Garden of the Gods is touted as the region's No. 1 tourist destination, drawing nearly 2 million visitors a year. About 800,000 of them pass through the visitors center.

By 10:30 a.m., Colorado license plates are outnumbered by plates from Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.

People crush into the park's central section.

The park road is clogged. On the south end of the park, Academy Riding Stables sends long lines of horses through the park, nose- tobutt, as their wranglers point out rock formations. Some cars head to the living-history exhibit at Rock Ledge Ranch. The Central Garden Trail is a crush of humanity.

One woman emerges from a car with Iowa plates and taps her husband on the shoulder as she spots the Kissing Camels: "Look, there's kissing cousins!"

Keeping an eye on visitors are Park Safety Patrol members Stephanie Stover and Jacob Eyermann.

"We protect the park from the people, and the people from the park," says Stover, who once was bitten by a rattlesnake in Garden of the Gods.

They walk more than 10 miles in an eight-hour shift, facing the same issues again and again.

Stover asks a woman to set down wild flowers plucked from the park.

Eyermann tracks down a man scrambling around on rocks away from the marked trails. They both ask kids to come down who have climbed higher than 10 feet.

Forrest Sim, from the visitor center, joins his cohorts on the paved trail to check out a report of a precariously loose rock on The Sentinel, a popular rock to climb.

They decide to let the rock be, but while he's there, Sim tells a father and boys to come down from a high perch on the rocks.

At 3:30 p.m., rain hits and it doesn't look like a short shower.

The visitors center fills up, as does the Trading Post on the park's other side. The half-hour bus tour fills up fast.

Susan Wiseman, a school bus driver, is in her fifth summer guiding bus tours. On one tour she has people from Colorado Springs, Oregon, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Texas and India.

She talks merrily about geology, history and rock formations as she drives. "The Sleeping Giant there has a big round chin," she says. "We call that the Jay Leno look."

Her riders enjoy the rocks, but collectively gasp when they spot two climbers on Gray Rock, a few hundred feet off the ground.

"It's like when you live with a small child," Wiseman says after the tour. "You see everything through new eyes."

As the rain continues, a few hardy walkers are left in the center of the park. The garden is quiet again.

Except for the Scourfield-Thomas wedding party. Scurrying down the paved path, trying to save the train of her wedding gown from ruin, is Victoria Scourfield-Thomas. She and her groom, Robert, were supposed to be married beneath Kissing Camels; then the rains came.

With overseas guests, they couldn't postpone the event, so they moved to the conference center in the Trading Post's basement.

Now they're trying to salvage the beauty of the place for posterity if they can't have it on their wedding day. The wedding photographer is marching the party around the garden.

"Wherever we can find a spot that's not too muddy," Robert says.

At 7:45 p.m., Sim is still inside the visitors center information kiosk. Somehow, the geology major at Brigham Young University-Idaho still seems happy.

He restocks maps, fills out paperwork, and chats with visitors.

Maintenance man Anthony Olkiewicz emerges from the bathroom at precisely 8 p.m., his long blond hair like a lion's mane. He removes the soothing Celtic CD from the player, puts in a live album by Roxy Music, and cranks it up.

"Attention, visitors," Sim announces over the loudspeaker, "if you couldn't tell by the music, we are now closed."

By the time he's done, the door has closed on the day's final two visitors.

DETAILS

Garden of the Gods' main entrance is at 1805 N. 30th St.; summer hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day; 634-6666.