Colorado Springs officials cut the ribbon Thursday on more than 22 miles of redesigned trails circling Pulpit Rock, capping years of work to untangle a sprawling patchwork of informal paths across Austin Bluffs Open Space. The centerpiece is the Enlightenment Trail, a hiking-only route to the summit built around a staircase of natural materials, though the exact count of those steps depends on which account you read.
A New Way Up, With a Disputed Step Count
According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Enlightenment Trail includes a 372-step staircase built with natural materials. But that figure doesn't match earlier reporting: KRDO previously described the planned route as featuring 400 stone steps with 200 feet of elevation gain along the way, while Springs Magazine quoted a city official describing the finished path as incorporating just over 400 stone steps. The Gazette's report on Thursday's opening does not reconcile the discrepancy, and no single number has been independently confirmed across all accounts.
What is consistent is the trail's purpose. The Gazette reports the Enlightenment Trail was designed specifically as a hiking-only route to the top of Pulpit Rock, replacing the scattered, informal paths hikers had long used to reach the summit on their own. Austin Bluffs Open Space, which covers nearly 600 acres, had lacked designated trails and formal trailheads mapping an official route to the top, per the same report.
Addressing Years of Rogue Trails
The redesign traces back to a master management plan the Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department adopted in 2020, according to the Gazette. Initial trail plans identified rogue trails and redundant routes that needed attention, and informal trails were found to have impacted the open space's natural resources. KRDO's earlier coverage pegged the cost of a related state grant at $250,000, money the city said at the time would fund roughly 2.5 miles of new trail construction, improvements to two main parking lots, and signage, while also closing illegal paths and restoring them to a natural state.
That cleanup effort fits into a broader pattern across the open space. The 2020 master plan's conditions survey had identified more than 13 miles of rogue trails that new, designated routes were meant to replace, as reported by Axios. KRDO, for its part, described the open space's master plan as first established in 2018 — a detail that doesn't line up neatly with the city's 2020 adoption date cited elsewhere, and the available reporting doesn't clarify whether the two references point to the same planning milestone.
Partnerships, Parking and What's Still to Come
The project also leaned on a neighboring institution. The University of Colorado Colorado Springs provided access and trail easements and supported the broader Austin Bluffs trail project, the Gazette reports, and city crews worked to improve integration between city-managed and university trails. The finished system now includes 88 designated parking spaces, alongside upgraded north and south trailheads, with the city having expanded the south trailhead and its parking area.
Beyond the staircase itself, the overhaul added parking lot lighting, security cameras, fencing, kiosks and trail maps, and established a new connection between the Spine Trail and the Rim Trail, improving roughly 2 miles of the Spine Trail in the process. Parks staff anticipate that remaining trail maintenance and improvements will be completed in spring, according to the Gazette's reporting, though the evidence doesn't specify every outstanding task.
Skyler Rorabaugh, the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services director, said the connected trail network, improved access and sustainable trail design made the project rewarding, per the Gazette. Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said the improvements reflect years of planning and collaboration and a commitment to preserving natural spaces, adding that the city is investing in outdoor experiences at Blodgett, Austin Bluffs and Fishers Canyon.
Part of a Larger Trail-Building Push
Thursday's opening is the latest piece of a years-long buildout across the open space. City trails administrator David Deitemeyer told the Denver Gazette that about 20 miles of trail had been constructed at Austin Bluffs in the five years since the 2020 master plan, with the outlet describing a remaining 2½-mile section of the regional Spine Trail still needed to fully link Ute Valley Park to Palmer Park and beyond. Separately, Springs Magazine reported that a Spine Trail segment providing access from the open space's northern portion near Pulpit Rock's lower elevations up to the Rim Trail was completed in December, and that the Enlightenment Trail itself was still under construction at the time, with completion hoped for by the end of summer.
Axios reported in May that city crews had begun work on what it called the 400-step Inspiration Trail up Pulpit Rock, noting the southern parking lot for Pulpit Rock was closed during construction while the northern trailhead remained open for most of the work. That report also said the new trail, combined with a connector between Rockhurst Boulevard and North Union Boulevard, would grow the park's total trail length to around 18 miles — though at the time, the parks department had not yet set an opening date for the new trail.
