COLORADO SPRINGS — The Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center has welcomed more than a million people so far this year.
“January to date we've had around 1.2 million, where we're seeing visitors throughout the entire year,” said Malcolm Campbell who is with the Visitor Center Management Team.
During the summer there are massive crowds to manage.
“When we see our biggest spikes in visitation, we could have thousands and thousands, up to 250 thousand in a given month, of people being here at the Visitor Center,” said Campbell.
Shift to winter and numbers drop dramatically.
In January for example, visitation can be down more than 75%.
Campbell said, “We can have around 30 to 40,000.”
Tracy Goodwin the Visitor Center Director of Operations said, “You'll have a little more elbow room to look around and walk around but we still have lots of great things happening.”
The absence of crowds in not lost on outdoor enthusiasts from the area.
For many locals the off-season at open space parks it the better season.
“It is a lot better when it is less crowded. As a mom of five kids for sure, I do tend to like it more,” said Colorado Springs resident Amanda Rapp.
“As we get into the cooler months, we see a lot more locals coming out and being able to enjoy the park in the visitor center and everything that we have to offer,” said Campbell.
Visitor Center managers say there are times during the off season when numbers surge, like during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Even then the numbers are far from the peak of summer.
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