On Walkabout On: The Siamese Twins Trail

Basic Trail Information

• Name: Siamese Twins Trail
• Where: Colorado Springs, CO
• Distance: 1.0 mile
• Difficulty: easy (100 feet elevation gain)
• Time: 45 minutes round-trip
• More Info: Garden of the Gods website

Google Terrain Map of the Trail:

Narrative

There is a lot of trails to check out in the Garden of the Gods, but one of the shortest trails that provides some of the best sweeping views of the park is the Siamese Twins Trail.  Besides the incredible views of the park the trail also leads to one of the most photographed rock formations in the Garden of the Gods, the Siamese Twins rock formation.  While I was driving over to Manitou Springs I decided to take a short detour to check out this trail.  As I came to the entrance of the Garden of the Gods the view as usual was just stunning as the 14,115 ft (4,302 m)? Pikes Peak was cloaked with a veil of clouds:

As I drove through the park to reach the trailhead to the Siamese Twins Trail I stopped to take this picture looking south towards the Central Garden area of the park:

Further down the road I stopped at another lookout to take a few more pictures of the surrounding mountains.  In the below photograph on the far left is Cheyenne Mountain which is home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD):

NORAD is now headquartered out of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, but it still maintains its command and control capabilities through the base that is built inside of Cheyenne Mountain.  Also visible in the photograph is Red Rock Canyon Open Space, which I had previously visited.  Here is a closer look at Red Rock Canyon, which is another hike in Colorado Springs that should not be missed:

From there I then drove over to the trailhead for the Siamese Twins Trail.  When I pulled into the parking lot I was the only car in the lot.  The day was clear and appears quite beautiful in the photographs, but it was in fact some what cold out with temperatures around 25 degrees Fahrenheit.  Possibly the cold was why not many people were hiking the trail that day.  Anyway I set out on the loop trail, which is a 1 mile loop hike with a very minimal elevation gain:

In fact the biggest elevation gain happens at the very start of the hike as the trail ascends up to a ridgeline that leads to the Siamese Twins.  If you look closely at the bottom left of the below photograph you can see the parking lot where my truck was parked:

At the top of the ridgeline there was immediately another stunning view of the beautiful Pikes Peak:

One of the most popular activities is to go horseback riding in the Garden of the Gods.  I didn’t see any horses during this hike, but evidence that horses had been on the trail recently was spread out across the trail:

Academy Riding Stables is the horseback outfit that services the park.  I love horseback riding and in the future my wife and I definitely plan to do a horseback ride in the Garden of the Gods.  However, on this hike I hardly needed a horse considering how short it was.  In about 15 minutes I arrived at the Siamese Twins rock formation:

Here is the view from the west side of the rock:

The view on the east side of the rock looking towards the west is the most commonly taken picture of the Siamese Twins due to how Pikes Peak is perfectly framed by this unusual rock formation:

Looking at the rocks it really is quite amazing how similarly eroded the rocks have become over the years.  Here is another popular picture taken which is of Pikes Peak framed by the small opening between the Siamese Twins:

Here is a side profile picture of the Siamese Twins:

There is a small hill behind the Siamese Twins that I hiked up to get this additional picture of this spectacular rock formation:

From the small hill, I also had a very nice view looking back at the main park area of the Garden of the Gods as well:

After taking a few pictures from the hill I then proceeded down the Siamese Twins Trail back to the parking lot.  On the way down the trail, I had some really nice views of the adjacent Rampart Range:

As I reached the bottom of the hill where the Siamese Twins is located on, I looked back and was able to take this photograph of the Siamese Twins which are just poking over the pinon pine trees that are found all over the park:

Conclusion

From here it was a short walk back to the parking lot.  In total the hike took 45 minutes to complete to include the time it took for me to take photographs and enjoy the scenery.  The hike is very easy and most people should have no problems hiking the entire trail.  However, unlike the Central Garden area of the park which is a paved sidewalk, this trail is not wheel chair accessible.  It is an improved dirt trail the entire way.  So for anyone that has taken the time to visit the Central Garden area of the park it is definitely worth taking the extra hour to check out this area of the park as well.  Both the Siamese Twins rock formation and the beautiful views from the hill top are not to be missed.