Aug 19, 2026

Garden of the Gods With a Dog: 9 Things to Know, Including 2 Rules That Disagree

Free entry, 5 a.m. opening, and dogs explicitly welcome on a six foot leash. Also two official rules about off-leash access here that do not agree, and what to do about it.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Colorado Springs, Colorado12 min readThings to DoPet Care & Services

Garden of the Gods is free, it opens at 5 a.m. every day of the year and closes at 10 p.m. in summer, and it is one of the best dog walks in Colorado. It also has two official rules about dogs that do not say the same thing, and nobody warns you about that before you arrive.

This guide covers what the park itself publishes, what the city publishes, and what to do when those two things conflict. Everything below is from the park's own pages or the city's own pages, and where they disagree, both versions are given.

The practical facts at a glance

Everything in this table is from the park's own pages.

Detail	What the park publishes
Admission	Free, park and Visitor & Nature Center both
Driving through	Free in your own vehicle
Park hours	5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, May 1 to October 31. 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, November 1 to April 30
Visitor & Nature Center hours	9 a.m. to 6 p.m. summer, Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. winter. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day
Dogs	Welcome, on at least a 6 foot leash at all times
Waste bags	Visitor & Nature Center, in the designated pet area
Overnight	No camping, gates locked at night
Rock climbing	Permit and safety gear required, permit covers all city parks
Address	1805 N. 30th Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Phone	719-634-6666

1. It is free, and that includes driving through

The park and the visitor center are both free. The park's site states plainly that "The Garden of the Gods Park & The Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center are both free and open to the public," and the park rules add that "The Park is free to drive through in your own vehicle."

That matters with a dog because it removes the calculation. There is no admission to weigh against how long your dog will last, no ticket wasted if the weather turns, and no reason not to come back the next morning if the afternoon was too hot.

Practical details from the park's own site: the address is 1805 N. 30th Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80904, and the phone number is 719-634-6666.

2. The hours are long, and the early ones are the good ones

Park hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily from May 1 to October 31, and 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily from November 1 to April 30. The opening time never changes, only the closing time. The Visitor and Nature Center keeps shorter hours, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter, and closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Those 5 a.m. park hours are the single most useful thing on this page for a dog owner in summer. Red rock and paved paths hold heat, and Colorado Springs afternoons build fast. A 6 a.m. walk on cool stone is a completely different experience from a 2 p.m. walk on hot stone, and the park is open for it.

The park also closes each night with locked gates, so there is no late arrival and no overnight stay.

3. The leash rule, in the park's own words

Six feet, at all times. From the dog rules section of the park rules page: "Pets are welcome in the park but must be on at least a 6' leash at all times and all pet waste must be removed. Pet Owners are also responsible for picking up any pet waste."

Read "welcome" carefully. Dogs are genuinely welcome here, which is not true of every landmark in Colorado. What is not on offer is off-leash freedom on the main formations.

4. The two rules that disagree, and how to handle it

This is the part to read twice. The city's dog parks page lists a Garden of the Gods dog run among the city's off-leash areas, described as a large unfenced area east of Rock Ledge Ranch and south of Gateway Rd. The park's own rules say a six foot leash at all times.

Both are current. Both are official. This guide is not going to pretend one overrides the other, because we cannot verify that it does.

What to actually do: treat Garden of the Gods as a leashed park. The central garden, the paved loop, the formations everyone photographs, and every trail a first-time visitor walks are leashed ground under the park's rule. If you specifically intend to use the off-leash dog run, pull up the city's Garden of the Gods dog map and policies sheet first and be certain you are inside the mapped boundary, which is a different corner of the park from the main attractions.

Getting this wrong in the busiest part of the park, with children and climbers and horses moving through, is the version that goes badly.

5. Cleanup bags are at the visitor center, in the designated pet area

Do not rely on finding them on the trail. The park's dog rules point to one place: "Doggie cleanup bags are available at the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center in the designated pet area."

Two useful facts sit inside that sentence. Bags come from the visitor center, so stop there first if you are short. And there is a designated pet area at the visitor center, which is the natural first stop with a dog who has just been in a car.

Remember the visitor center only opens at 9 a.m. If you are taking advantage of the 5 a.m. park opening, bring your own bags.

6. Stay on the official trails, and the reason is not what you expect

The soil is the reason, not the scenery. The park rules put it more strongly than most parks bother to: "The Park has unique and sensitive soil that is easily damaged. Even one person off-trail can create decades of destruction."

Decades, from one person. With a dog on a six foot leash, staying on trail is easy, but it does mean not letting the lead drift while you take a photograph. The park asks visitors to follow Leave No Trace principles alongside the trail rule.

The rules also ask that you not mark or carve the rocks, take only pictures, and remove none of the park's natural features, listed as rocks, plants and animals.

7. The free summer shuttle, and what it means for you

The park runs a free summer shuttle. The park's own navigation lists it as the Free Summer Shuttle.

We are not going to state a pet policy for it, because the park does not publish one on the pages we could verify. Ask at the visitor center before you plan around it. Given that both the Pikes Peak shuttle and the Cog Railway refuse pets in writing, the safe assumption for any shuttle in this region is that you should confirm first rather than turn up hopeful.

Our full breakdown of which Pikes Peak routes take a dog is in the PetCompass guides library.

The shuttle exists to reduce traffic on a narrow one-way loop, which is worth knowing even if you never board it. On a busy summer weekend the road is carrying cars, cyclists and a shuttle at once, and you are walking a dog alongside all three. That is an argument for the early start rather than the mid-morning one.

8. Sharing the road, and why it matters with a dog

The park asks drivers to share the road and not to stop in the pedestrian and bike lane. With a dog that cuts both ways. As a driver you are watching for cyclists on a narrow one-way loop. As a walker with a dog, you are on a shared corridor where bikes come past at speed.

A six foot leash held short near the road is the practical answer. A long lead on a road shared with cyclists is how a dog ends up in front of a wheel.

9. Rock climbing needs a permit, which changes your group plan

A rock climbing permit and safety gear are required for any climbing inside the park, and climbers must be able to show the permit to a park official on request. The permit is available online and covers climbing in all city parks where climbing is allowed.

The park adds a practical tip that matters in a canyon: permits are delivered digitally, so print it or screenshot it, because "cell phone signal can be spotty within the Park."

For a dog owner this is a group logistics point. If half your party is climbing, the dog is with the other half, on a leash, and phone signal may not be there to coordinate a meeting point. Agree where and when before you split up.

What a good dog visit looks like

Arrive early. The park opens at 5 a.m. and the stone is cool. Park, use the designated pet area at the visitor center if it is open, and walk the central garden on a short leash while the light is low and the crowds are thin.

Keep it short in summer. Red rock and pavement radiate heat, and there is very little shade on the main loop. Our summer heat safety for pets guide covers the pavement test that tells you whether to walk at all.

Bring water. This is a dry climate at elevation and the walk is more work than it looks.

Have a second stop planned. Garden of the Gods is a leashed sightseeing walk, not a run. If your dog needs to actually stretch out, follow it with one of the city's fenced dog parks or the county's 25-acre Bear Creek Dog Park at El Paso County Parks.

Consider the season. Winter here is genuinely pleasant for a dog walk, with the same free access and far fewer people. The park keeps its 5 a.m. opening year round and closes an hour earlier, at 9 p.m., from November 1 to April 30, so a short winter afternoon still leaves plenty of open gate. What changes is the surface, because shaded sections of the paved loop hold ice long after the open stretches have dried. Our cold weather pet safety guide covers paw protection and the salt problem below freezing.

Where it fits in a Colorado Springs trip

Garden of the Gods sits close enough to downtown that it works as a first stop on arrival or a last stop before leaving. Pair it with Red Rock Canyon Open Space, which has two designated off-leash dog loops and leashed trails elsewhere, per the city's Red Rock Canyon page.

For where to sleep, our pet-friendly hotels in Colorado Springs page lists what each property charges and allows, and the PetCompass hotel directory covers the wider region. The official destination site, Visit Colorado Springs, is the place to check for events that might crowd the park on the day you go.

Conclusion

Free entry, free driving, a 5 a.m. opening every day of the year, and dogs explicitly welcome on a six foot leash. That is a better offer than most landmarks make to a dog owner.

The one thing to hold in your head is the disagreement between the park's leash-at-all-times rule and the city's listing of an off-leash dog run here. Default to leashed, check the city dog map if you want the run, and keep the lead short on the shared road.

Frequently asked questions

Are dogs allowed at Garden of the Gods?

Yes. The park's own rules state that pets are welcome in the park but must be on at least a 6 foot leash at all times, with all pet waste removed.

Is Garden of the Gods free?

Yes. The park's site states that the park and the Visitor and Nature Center are both free and open to the public, and the park rules add that the park is free to drive through in your own vehicle.

What are Garden of the Gods opening hours?

The park is open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. between May 1 and October 31, and from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. between November 1 and April 30. The Visitor and Nature Center opens 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter, and closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The park locks its gates at night and there are no overnight stays.

Can dogs go off leash at Garden of the Gods?

The two official sources disagree, so default to leashed. The park's rules require a 6 foot leash at all times. The City of Colorado Springs separately lists a Garden of the Gods dog run as an unfenced off-leash area east of Rock Ledge Ranch and south of Gateway Rd. Check the city's dog map and be certain of the boundary before unclipping, and keep the main formations leashed.

Where can I get dog waste bags at Garden of the Gods?

At the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center, in the designated pet area, according to the park's dog rules. The visitor center opens at 9 a.m., so bring your own if you are walking earlier.

Is there a designated pet area at Garden of the Gods?

Yes. The park's dog rules refer to a designated pet area at the Visitor and Nature Center, which is where the cleanup bags are kept.

Sources

Park hours, rules and shuttle operations change seasonally. Confirm at the Visitor and Nature Center before you rely on any of it.