Front Range
El Paso County
22 Porch Notes tied to El Paso County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Places in this county
Money and taxes (2)
Money and taxes
The Pikes Peak Library District is its own taxing district
Libraries across much of El Paso County are run by the Pikes Peak Library District, a voter-created special taxing district funded by its own property tax mill levy.
Read note ->Money and taxes
Your El Paso County tax bill: the assessor values, the treasurer collects
Two different El Paso County offices touch your property tax, and the bill itself is built from the mill levies of every district that overlaps your land.
Read note ->Home and property (1)
Water and land (2)
Water and land
Out in El Paso County, a well often draws from the Denver Basin
Many properties outside the cities in El Paso County rely on wells drilled into the Denver Basin aquifers, and that kind of water comes with its own rules and limits.
Read note ->Water and land
Paint Mines: clay spires on El Paso County's eastern plains
Near Calhan, Paint Mines Interpretive Park protects about 750 acres of colorful clay hoodoos and a 9,000-year human history, free and open dawn to dusk.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (6)
Outdoors and wildfire
Barr Trail: hike all the way up Pikes Peak
Barr Trail is the footpath that climbs from Manitou Springs to the Pikes Peak summit, a classic big-elevation hike that most people enjoy most when they split it over two days.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Bighorn sheep on the rocks west of Colorado Springs
Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep live in the steep, rocky country of the Pikes Peak region west of Colorado Springs, and they are best watched from a distance.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Cheyenne Mountain State Park sits at the base of the mountain
Cheyenne Mountain State Park, just south of Colorado Springs, offers trails, campsites, and public archery, and needs a state-park pass to enter.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is built into the mountainside
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs climbs the flank of its namesake mountain, and it bills itself as America's only mountain zoo.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Dispersed camping on the Pikes Peak Ranger District has rules
The Pike National Forest land around Pikes Peak is managed by the Pikes Peak Ranger District, and dispersed camping there follows posted limits, not a camp-anywhere rule.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The easy ways up Pikes Peak: the highway, the cog, and a permit to book ahead
Most people reach the 14,115-foot Pikes Peak summit by car or cog railway, and the summer drive past Mile 7 now needs a timed-entry permit booked in advance.
Read note ->Local rules (4)
Local rules
A metro district can add a line to your El Paso County tax bill
Many newer neighborhoods around Colorado Springs, Monument, and Fountain sit inside metropolitan districts that levy their own property tax on top of the county's.
Read note ->Local rules
In Colorado Springs, short-term rental rules turn on your zoning
Colorado Springs treats owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied short-term rentals differently, and non-owner-occupied rentals face limits in single-family zones.
Read note ->Local rules
In unincorporated El Paso County, the county is your local government
El Paso County runs on a five-member Board of County Commissioners, and outside the cities and towns the county makes the local land-use and building rules.
Read note ->Local rules
Short-term rental rules in Manitou Springs are tight and capped
Manitou Springs limits short-term rentals with a citywide cap, owner-occupancy and separation requirements, and a permit that does not transfer when a home is sold.
Read note ->History and culture (7)
History and culture
Garden of the Gods is a free city park, by deed
Garden of the Gods is a city-owned park in Colorado Springs that the Perkins family deeded to the city in 1909 on the condition it stay free to the public forever.
Read note ->History and culture
Manitou Springs: a spa town built around its mineral springs
Manitou Springs grew as a Victorian health resort around natural mineral springs, and much of the town is a National Register historic district, with separate local preservation review in the city's own historic districts.
Read note ->History and culture
Pikes Peak carried older names long before it was on a map
The mountain that anchors El Paso County was known to the Ute and other tribes by its own names for generations before Zebulon Pike's 1806 sighting.
Read note ->History and culture
The Museum Built So Everyone Climbs the Same Ramp
Colorado Springs holds the licensed 'Olympic City USA' title, and its downtown U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum was designed so visitors of every ability move through it together.
Read note ->History and culture
The Pioneers Museum lives in the old 1903 county courthouse
The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, the free regional history museum, occupies the historic 1903 El Paso County Courthouse in downtown Colorado Springs.
Read note ->History and culture
Visiting the Air Force Academy While the Chapel Is Wrapped Up
A new visitor center outside the North Gate, an overlook above Colorado Springs, and a free planetarium keep the Air Force Academy worth a stop even while its famous chapel is under repair.
Read note ->History and culture
Why Colorado Springs sits where it does: General Palmer's plan
Colorado Springs was laid out in 1871 as a planned railroad town by General William Jackson Palmer, which is why the old grid and street widths feel deliberate.
Read note ->