Trail Summary

Pulpit Rock Park is nestled east of I-25 in the Rockrimmon Area. It is bordered by UCCS to the south and Dublin Road and housing to the north and University Park to the east. It is one of the larger parks in the Colorado Springs area similar to Red Rocks, Palmer Park, Garden of the Gods in that it is a large park in an urban setting.

This is a moderate run/hike with some climbs but nothing too steep. A short steep descent with rocky conditions on my route but it can be avoided by taking a different trail. About 2.75 miles but there are many more possibilities to lengthen the trail which I will leave for another day.

Trailhead / Access

The trailhead for the Pulput Rock Open Space is at the north end of Nevada Avenue where it deadends just before Dublin Ave. If you are on Nevada, just head north and where it now turns to go to I-25, take the right turn towards the strip mall area and follow it to the end where there will be a power substation and a parking lot. From I-25, You would exit Rockrimmon and follow the signage to Nevada and turn left to the strip mall area and proceed as above.

Course 1 - 2.65 miles

The trail head for the park is quite easy to find. Depending on what direction you come from, you will want to exit I-25 at Rockrimmon Blvd. You want to get to the east side of the highway on the frontage road where Nevada Ave turns west and joins Corporate Drive. You will take the turn just east/south of the ramp to the old street where the Harley Motorcycle Store sits. Take this street north and it will curve to the right into a parking lot and the trail head. There is power substation to the left of the lot.

There are lots of trails in the area but it looks like there are a couple of maintain trails and the rest are single track / social trails. I started by taking the main trail and follwing it to the right (south) and right again when it split off. I came to a cable type gate across the trail and just on the other side of it, took a single track trail to the left and uphill.

This trail took me to the top of the Pulpit Rock formation by going around to the east of the rocks and going up from there. This was not a very difficult trail to this point. If you continue to follow this along the rock formation, the descent becomes quite steep and rocky and I would not recommend it to the faint at heart or others in wet/snowy conditions. I seem to recall another trail branching off back at the point where I first entered the rock formation area that I think is much easier and will rejoin the trail I followed downhill a way.

Once the trail got down off the formation, it became larger and easier. I followed it to the east until I reached the University Park Subdivision where the trail ends at the street. It looks like you could run up the street and pickup another trail but I backtracked and cut over to the other trail and followed it back to the starting point.