🦎 Aiken Canyon Preserve

Aiken Canyon Preserve is a 1,621-acre (6.56 km2) Nature Conservancy-managed state property in Colorado. It was first observed and named after Charles Aiken, a 19th-century U.S. surveyor, pioneer, and ornithologist who first surveyed the region in the 1870s and identified more than 75 bird species. The preserve consists of foothills, shrub and woodland ecosystems and is 12.4 miles (20.0 km) southeast from Colorado Springs located on the eastern slope of the Rampart Range which is within a smaller foothill system of the Front Range. The surrounding mountain ranges of the Rampart Range and Palmer Divide created the nature preserves sustainable ecosystem. There is also a four-mile (6 km)-loop hiking trail on the preserve.