Nature’s Neighborhood: Wildflower Park, Bluestem Prairie Open Space

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1min 30sec

As the weather heats up, we're wanting to enjoy the outdoors more and more--but we also need to maintain social distancing guidelines and avoid piling up at popular parks. This week on Nature's Neighborhood, Susan Davies of the Trails and Open Space Coalition talks about two parks that could not be more different.

Wildflower Park is located in southeast Colorado Springs.
Courtesy of Susan Davies/Trails and Open Space Coalition
Wildflower Park is located in southeast Colorado Springs.

The areas are included in the organization's initiative, Get Out Spread Out, which encourages people to avoid overcrowding parks by offering more than 100 locations to explore across the region.

Wildflower Park is in the heart of southeast Colorado Springs. There’s plenty of room to spread out, kick a ball, throw a frisbee and just really enjoy time outside. It has a really nice one mile trail that wraps around the park and even connects to Sand Creek trail which will take you all over the southeast part of the city. It has nice views of Pikes Peak.

Bluestem Prairie Open Space includes 650 acres of prairie near Big Johnson Reservoir.
Credit Courtesy of Susan Davies/Trails and Open Space Coalition
Bluestem Prairie Open Space includes 650 acres of prairie near Big Johnson Reservoir.

Bluestem Prairie Open Space is much wilder. Located near the city of Fountain, it has over eight miles of trail. It’s great for mountain biking and if you have a young cyclist, it’s great for them too. It has many opportunities for bird watching. You might also see prairie dogs and even pronghorn. Stay on the trail, because there are rattlesnakes. This park is 650-acres of pure prairie.