Devils Kitchen Hike

Just inside the east entrance to Colorado National Monument there is a short, easy hiking trail that leads to Devils Kitchen, a spectacular feature that is very fun to explore and beautiful to photograph at sunset. This trail shares a parking area with the Serpents Trail, the original park road built in the 1920s, that is very popular with local runners and walkers. So even if the parking lot is crowded, the Devils Kitchen Trail may not be too busy. Starting down the trail, there are a few junctions along the route to Devils Kitchen that are well-marked. The last part of the trail is a climb up the slickrock side of the formation itself, but the real beauty of the rocks doesnat appear until the top, when the view from the other side and the path up into the rocks is apparent. For the hardier hikers, it is possible to hike off-trail up the small peak on the southwest side of the formation for a bird's-eye view.