Who Knew Poison Could Be at the Beautiful Garden of the Gods?

by Cynthia Perez - Peak Education Scholar

My experience at Garden of the Gods was peaceful. First, we watched a short film about how Garden of the Gods was made, how it all developed over the years, and how it got to where it is today. Then, we had a tour guide who gave us a tour for FREE!! He was a nice guy and we were thankful he did that for free, knowing how tiring it probably gets to walk for so long. On the tour, he took our group on a path and showed us everything with explanations alongside them.

For example, he showed us plants and what they are, what they can be used for, and especially one I was really interested in because it was poisonous. It really interested me because who would have thought something like that would be at Garden of the Gods? Garden of the Gods has all sorts of nature that people don’t think would appear there. After he showed us the flowers he showed us several different trees and little bugs.

Photo of Poison Hemlock (Conium Maculatum) That Can be Found at Garden of the Gods Colorado Springs, CO

I loved learning things because I had never experienced anything like it and I absolutely loved it. I love involving myself in new things. I think it is important to do so because you learn things you never had before and you talk to more people you never thought you would. It boosts your social battery and makes you more into learning new things. I also met a lot of new people that I never talked to before and I feel like that boosted my experience even more because you have no clue who your dealing with, but once you observe them more you get to know their personality and get to know what they’re like and it really interests me to meet new people, though I may be shy at first, it makes you notice how they do things and how they work. 

Smiling Peak Education Scholar Cynthia Perez on Garden of the Gods hike learning about plants.

Something else about me is that I involve myself in drama clubs. I make props like flowers and things that interest me that are needed. For example, in 9th grade for drama club I made a flower out of newspaper and a wood stick. It wasn't meant to be perfect because it was meant to be a gift made from Romeo to give to Juliet. Now that I look back on it, it reminds me of the flowers we saw at Garden of the Gods. 

For me, I'm really shy so it was hard for me to open up to these people I have never talked to before, but once I got to know people I opened up more and made friends, it made Garden of the Gods more fun. The group I went with to Garden of the Gods is one of my very first out of school programs I have ever done. I chose to go to Garden of the Gods because it has always interested me into seeing it, especially because I heard it was really beautiful. I loved walking around and seeing new things, especially the kissing camels. The rocks that look like something real are something I wouldn't imagine seeing. The Kissing Camels were naturally developed which amazes me even more because how could simple rocks form into two kissing camels. It made my experience more interesting. 

Cynthia Perez, a Peak Education scholar, embraces new experiences and friendships while enjoying a walk with a companion and a dog.

I also saw birds going in these little holes of the rocks and it was really cute to me because I never thought birds would just stay in tiny holes most of the day. It makes me wonder why they do that. I question, is it their home? 

More towards the end of the Garden of the Gods experience we got to eat lunch. Personally, I got the pretzel dog with cheese. It is a hotdog wrapped in pretzel dough with a side of cheese. It was just the perfect thing. The pretzel was just soft, not too hard, not too soft, the cheese tasted amazing, and the hot dog inside made it taste 100% better. When I was done eating, I walked around to read the information about Garden of the Gods and how things got there; the old dinosaurs, the rocks and the nature of Garden of the Gods.. There is also a gift shop with beautiful things too!