Location: 3786 W Woodmen Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80919. Southern Parking lot is located on W Woodmen near Orchard Valley Rd
Park Hours: 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Amenities: 3+ miles of trails, 2 small trailheads, toilet, and access to Pike National Forest.
The 231-acre open space parcel offers a beautiful mountain setting with streams, forest and several geological rock features showing rock sedimentation, including Manitou Limestone, Fountain Formation, and Pierre Shale. The Rampart Range fault separates the sedimentary bedrock from the granite. Home to the once endangered peregrine falcon. Blodgett is primarily used by hikers.
Volunteer: The Friends of Peregrine Parks and Open Spaces and occasionally Rock Mountain Field Institute (RMFI) help to maintain this area.
This Open Space is manage by the City of Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services (719) 385-5940.
History: Blodgett Open Space derives its name from Blodgett Peak, which was once part of the ranch owned by the Blodgett family dating back to mid to late 1800s. The Blodgett family was one of the earliest settlers in the area that is now the Air Force Academy.
During the early 1900s, the Modern Woodmen Sanatorium used the property for water collection and diversion. Many of the old jeep trails connect to cisterns that are located on and off the Blodgett Open Space. As a turn of the century institution, it is likely the Sanatorium made every effort to be self-sufficient. Collecting its own water would have decreased reliance on outside sources. More recently, the property was owned by Peregrine and platted for a number of residential homes.
The 1997 Colorado Springs Open Space Plan targeted Blodgett Open Space as a candidate area for conservation because of its location in the foothills and diverse plant communities and valuable wildlife habitat. It was the only such area in the northwest area of the city on the Open Space Master Plan. Blodgett Open Space also falls within Queen’s Canyon, one of three critical preservation candidate lands identified in the 1998 Front Range Mountain Backdrop Study.
In March 2001, the City of Colorado Springs purchased Blodgett Open Space from Peregrine for $2.4 million. The funding for the acquisition came from the City’s Trails, Open Space, and Parks (TOPS) sales tax.
Blodgett Peak Open Space Master Plan 2002
Blodgett Peak Forest Health and Management Plan 2003
The open space closed due to damage from the Waldo Canyon Fire. In 2013, TOSC worked with the City of Colorado Springs to host a series of community meetings and hikes in the open space, to view the fire damage and ongoing restoration efforts. The City worked with TOSC, citizens, and neighborhood groups to restore public access to this beautiful area.
In 2019, TOPS acquired 64 acres of property for Open Space as an expansion to Blodgett Open Space. The new property is immediately adjacent and south of the existing Blodgett Open Space and located west of the intersection of W. Woodmen Rd and Blodgett Ranch Dr. Providing implementation for a gravel trailhead, new trail connections, fencing and signage. Blodgett Open Space Interim Use Plan 2019