Where to Stay in Colorado Springs

Also any suggestions for other activities in the area would be appreciated.  Since it’s our arrival day, I’m not looking for anything that requires a specific time in case our flight is delayed.  Cheap is helpful, too.  :)

Now that I look at the map, perhaps playing in Colorado Springs for the day and then driving 45 minutes toward Philmont and stay in Pueblo, CO, home to government pamphlets.  Hotels look cheaper there and we’d have a shorter drive in the morning.

Use Trivago or any search engine to locate and price motels in Colorado Springs. Howard Johnson has rooms for $50. We have put 4 Scouts in one room with two king or queen beds. The same will work for adult advisors, after all you will be sharing two-man tents for a week.

The Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods are free experience. I hear the Pikes Peak Cog Rail is out of service but if you rent vans in Denver you can still drive up to the top for free.

Air BnB is the way to go…. We stayed 2 nights in a cool farm house in C Springs where we could prepare our meals, grill outside, and the Scouts had room to run around and shake  down gear.

Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods, and Diablo Canyon are great places to get your warm up hikes at altitude.  Thunderstorms are very common in the afternoons, so best to start hiking in the morning and be off the trail by 1400.

Huge Cabela’s is great place to pick up last minute items

Pueblo is okay but doesn’t offer as good trails for hiking.  Have fun wherever you go and good luck on the trek.

Pueblo is okay but doesn’t offer as good trails for hiking.  Have fun wherever you go and good luck on the trek.

We arrive Saturday morning in Denver.  Pick up a 15 passenger van.  I plan to drive to Colorado Springs to do 1 flexible activity.  We have to be at the airport very early and deal with the time change, so not looking for anything too strenuous.

I’m thinking a nice dinner in CS and then drive to Pueblo to stay the night. Get up early since Philmont starts the next day.  So Pueblo is just a place to sleep.  It shortens the drive to Philmont and the hotels appear to be cheaper than CS.

Advance book your lodging reservations and van rentals so they are confirmed and you are assured you have transportation and a place to stay.

Arrive at Philmont as early as you can, before 8 am. You should be able to complete your day-long check-in process and medical re-check the first day if you arrive early enough so you can catch the first busses out to the trail the next morning.

Advance book your lodging reservations and van rentals so they are confirmed and you are assured you have transportation and a place to stay.

Van is reserved.  Trying to do the hotel ASAP.

Arrive at Philmont as early as you can, before 8 am. You should be able to complete your day-long check-in process and medical re-check the first day if you arrive early enough so you can catch the first busses out to the trail the next morning.

We’ll have a 2 hour drive to Philmont if we stay in Pueblo.  If we get a hotel with a free breakfast (scout is thrifty), that probably won’t start until 6, so I’d put our ETA at 8:30 – 9am.

I booked the hotel with the fewest pictures of dead body carpet stains on Yelp in Colorado City, CO.  It’s a little closer to Philmont than Pueblo.

NRA Whittington complex just out side Raton, NM.  I stayed there a few years ago on the way to Philmont and it was cheap and wonderful..Several options…competitor barracks or rent a cabin….a full cabin will fit the entire crew (four rooms in a cabin and three bunks per room).  While there you can go to the skeet range and shoot some.  They give a big discount to the BSA.  NRA museum,  youth don’t really get much but the adults loved it all.   You would only have about a 30 min drive to the Ranch.  We did all that in ’16 and it cost $22 a person. http://www.nrawc.org/  call them and you can reserve what you decide.  They do have a café there also, you might get dinner there.  Breakfast we left the range early and ate at Philmont, that way we could start our check in early. ( I suggest do that!!!!)

Watch out for Pikes Peak, they are building a new visitor center at the summit, the parking is a mess but doable.  They had parking attendants directing traffic a few weeks ago.  Cog rail road is still not running until 2020 (from what I read).  Still worth the trip up though.  The old visitor center is still up and going.

That is really good information on the NRA Whittington Center. We pass it every year on our way to Philmont but didn’t know they have and offer overnight accommodations for Scouts going to Philmont.

Thanks Nate.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

That is some very good info.  Thanks!