Bear Creek Regional Park and Nature Center is a regional park located in Colorado Springs, Colorado that has trails for hiking, horseback riding, running and cycling. Within the park is a nature center and the El Paso Park Headquarters. There are tennis courts, soccer fields, basketball courts, an archery range, and other sports fields and courts. A section of the park is dedicated as a dog park. There are also soccer fields. Restrooms, pavilions and most picnic spots are wheelchair accessible. At the eastern end of the park is a connection to a short trail called the Bear Creek Trail that meets up with the Pikes Peak Greenway. At the western edge of the park, a trail connects to the high-country Bear Creek Cañon Park.

History

From the late 1800s to 1983 or 1984, there was a residential poor farm located on land that became the Bear Creek Park. Gardens were operated for and by the residents to provide food. There was also the Pest House and Pauper's Cemetery on what became park land. In 1873, and for many years, the only trail up to the Pikes Peak Signal Station started in Manitou Springs and went through Bear Creek Cañon. The 17 mile trail also passed through Seven Lakes, Jones Park and the past Lake House at Lake Morraine areas.

Sections of the park

Nature center

Media presentations, interpretive programs and special events are held at the nature center, located on the western side of the park on Bear Creek Road off of 26th Street and Lower Gold Camp Road. Visitors may take self-guided or guided tours of the trails which include interpretive signs about the park's animals and plants. Horses, pets and bicycles are not allowed on the nature center trail. The nature center is open Tuesday through Saturday throughout the year. File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Nature Center 3.jpg, Nature Center File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Nature Center 6.jpg, Nature Center File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Nature Center 9.jpg, Nature Center

Bear Creek Terrace

Bear Creek Terrace, the most developed part of the park, includes a picnic area with 5 pavilions, 3 play fields, volleyball area, horseshoe pits, an archery range, and tennis courts. Eight tennis courts are located at 2201 Argus Boulevard. File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Play field and play ground in the background.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Play field and play ground in the background File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Tennis courts 2.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Tennis courts 2 File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Playground and picnic area.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Playground and picnic area File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Picnic area and trails.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Picnic area and trails File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Vita course.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Vita course File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Terrace - Archery range.jpg, Bear Creek Terrace - Archery range

Bear Creek East

Bear Creek East also has a picnic area, playground, horseshoe pits and a volleyball court. Bear Creek flows through this area. The Park Headquarters are located in Bear Creek East. It is located east of 21st street. File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - Picnic Pavilion.jpg, Bear Creek East - Picnic Pavilion File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - Picnic area and playground.jpg, Bear Creek East - Picnic area and playground File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - Trails 2.jpg, Bear Creek East - Trails File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - Trails 3.jpg, Bear Creek East - Trails File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - El Paso Parks Headquarters.jpg, Bear Creek East - El Paso Parks Headquarters File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek East - Community Garden.jpg, Bear Creek East - Community Garden

Dog park

The 24 acre Bear Creek Dog Park has a -mile loop trail that owners and pets can hike on, stabilized pools within mile of creek access for dogs to play in, a holding pen near restrooms and a penned small dog area. About of the park is fenced off from the rest of the park to prevent conflicts with other park visitors. It is located at 21st Street and Rio Grande. A volunteer organization, Friends of Bear Creek Dog Park, supports the park. File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Dog Park 1.jpg, Bear Creek Dog Park Entrance at 21st Street and Rio Grande File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Dog Park 2.jpg, Bear Creek Dog Park File:Bear Creek Regional Park - Bear Creek Dog Park trails.jpg, Bear Creek Dog Park trails from Lower Gold Camp Road

Park

Trails

Nature trails are for hiking, and pets are not allowed. Visitors can hike, walk their pets on a leash or ride horseback on the regional trails. Flora within the park includes ponderosa pine and cottonwood trees, scrub oak, grass prairie and meadows. A mountain creek runs through the park. The trails are open from dawn to dusk each day. A short 0.4 mile trail, Bear Creek Trail, provides a trail from the eastern edge of the park at 8th Street to the Pikes Peak Greenway in the Power Plant Reach. Trails can be accessed at the nature center, picnic pavilions or the 21st Street trail parking lot.

Horseback riding

Trails for horseback riding can be picked up at the Penrose Equestrian Center on Rido Grande, off of 8th Street. The gravel trails are wide and are good for riding in the winter. The trail can be taken through the park, across creeks and over hills, to 21st Street and ride into section 16 which has steeper hills. The trail is shared with cyclists and hikers.

Birdwatching

Birds spotted at the park include

lesser goldfinch The lesser goldfinch (''Spinus psaltria'') is a very small songbird of the Americas. Together with its relatives the American goldfinch and Lawrence's goldfinch, it forms the New World goldfinch clade in the genus '' Spinus''. As is the case f ...

broad-tailed hummingbird The broad-tailed hummingbird (''Selasphorus platycercus'') is a medium-sized hummingbird species found in highland regions from western United States and Western Canada to Mexico and Guatemala. Description Medium in size, the broad-tail ...

spotted towhee The spotted towhee (''Pipilo maculatus'') is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided towhee. A ...

Woodhouse's scrub jay Woodhouse's scrub jay (''Aphelocoma'' ''woodhouseii''), is a species of scrub jay native to western North America, ranging from southeastern Oregon and southern Idaho to central Mexico. Woodhouse's scrub jay was until recently considered the sam ...

common raven The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...

. In May,

vireo The vireos make up a family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and Southeast Asia. "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migrato ...

, flycatcher, and

western tanager The western tanager (''Piranga ludoviciana''), is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), other members of its genus and it are classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species's pluma ...

, and the

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

, Virginia's, and

orange-crowned warbler The orange-crowned warbler (''Leiothlypis celata'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Taxonomy The orange-crowned warbler was formally described in 1822 by the American zoologist Thomas Say under the binomial name ''Sylvia ...

may be seen during their migratory journey. The fall can be a good time to spot towhee,

jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

junco A junco , genus ''Junco'', is a small North American bird in the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. Junco systematics are still confusing after decades of research, with various authors accepting between three and twelve species. Despite ...

, Say's phoebe, red crossbill, and

pine siskin The pine siskin (''Spinus pinus'') is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range. Taxonomy The pine siskin was formally described in 1810 by the American ornithologist Alexander ...

Duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...

, bald eagle,

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally d ...

, and rough-legged hawk may be spotted in the winter. Many other varieties have been spotted.

Wildlife

Coyote,

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

, and

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

range through the park.

Parks Department offices

The El Paso County Parks Department offices are located at 2002 Creek Crossing St., off of 21st Street.

Events

* July - Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K * August - Colorado Springs 5K Run Other events include The BRC Down and Dirty Trail Series, Sand Creek Mountain Bike Series, and the Fall Series.

References

External links

Bear Creek Regional Park
- official site
Bear Creek Nature Center
- official site {{coord, 38, 49, 15.63, N, 104, 51, 41.9, W, region:US, display=title Parks in Colorado Springs, Colorado Nature centers in Colorado