Palmer Park

Palmer Park is located northeast of downtown Colorado Springs and is named after William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. At 730 acres in size, Palmer Park is the largest park inside of the metro area. In total, it has over 25-miles of hiking and biking trails, a dog park, an off leash dog area, a community playground, picnic ground, and many other amenities. The park is characterized by large sandstone bluffs, scrub oak, ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and an abundance of wildlife. RMFI has been working in Palmer Park since 2017 on trail improvements along the Palmer Point Trail, Edna Mae Bennett Nature Trail, Templeton Trail, and Templeton Connector Trail. The Palmer Point Trail runs just inside the northwest boundary of the park, offering visitors access to piñon-juniper and native grassland areas between the bluffs in the center of the park and the neighborhoods bordering the park. The Edna Mae Nature Trail ascends the central bluffs through forested slopes on sandy and gravelly soils. The trail is paralleled by a major drainage on this ascent and is crossed in several points by minor drainages. Significant portions of this trail are paved in a cobblestone fashion by nearby sedimentary rock, which is believed to have been installed by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the 1930s.