Blodgett Open Space shows the northwest foothills recovering

On the northwest edge of Colorado Springs, where the last city neighborhoods give way to Pike National Forest, Blodgett Open Space spreads across 384 acres of trails and wildlife habitat. The views run back over the city in one direction and up toward Blodgett Peak in the other.

The mix packed into that ground is unusually rich. Foothills shrubland, ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and scrub oak cover slopes that hold black bear, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and peregrine falcon, and the bedrock itself reads like a short geology lesson: Manitou Limestone, Fountain Formation, and Pierre Shale all surface here. Threading through it is a story of recovery: the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire scorched this hillside, and the designated trails are part of how staff keep watch on habitat coming back and on drainage finding its way again.

That burn history is not a warning label hung over the place. It is what makes the landscape so legible. In a single short walk you can read the forest edge, the old burn scar, a wildlife corridor, the seam where neighborhoods stop, and the boundary of public land — all stacked into one hillside above town.

Conditions on a recovering slope change with weather and season, so check the City of Colorado Springs page for current trail status and maps before heading up.