DID YOU EVER WONDER? City's tallest point? Answer may surprise

What is the highest point in the city of Colorado Springs?

- Matthias Learned

ANSWER: Well, readers, what's your guess? Many in our newsroom thought it was Pikes Peak or the city reservoirs on Pikes Peak, but those aren't inside the city limits.
Next most favorite guesses: Blodgett Peak and the antenna farm on Cheyenne Mountain.

The winner: Look to "The Horns," the northern peak of Cheyenne Mountain standing 9,212 feet tall. Phil Friesen of the city's Department of Information Technology pinpointed it for us.

It's in the city up to where private land abuts Pike National Forest.

Another section of the mountain, farther south, had been homesteaded and is now in Cheyenne Mountain State Park. The antennas, on the mountain's middle peak, aren't in the city.

In 1925, The Broadmoor's Spencer Penrose built a zigzagging highway to the top of the northern peak, where he added a now-razed Southwestern lodge. The peak is called "The Horns" because its pointy rocks look like part of a dragon's head.

For Blodgett Peak, look toward Rockrimmon. The part of the peak in the city is 8,216 feet, according to Parks and Recreation Department cartographers, although the summit is 9,423.

Cedar Heights, above Garden of the Gods, soars to 7,670 feet, where there are lots and homes. However, said Jennifer Kudla of the Cedar Heights Sales Office, the development's Solitude Park, running from the developed area up to Pike National Forest, is higher. A helpful Cedar Heights resident used his GPS to measure Solitude Park, which rises to 8,200 feet.

Now, just for fun, what's the lowest point in the city?

Friesen mapped that too and found it "about 10.9 miles east of ‘The Horns' along Fontaine Boulevard, midway between Powers Boulevard and Marksheffel Road. The elevation here is 5,706 feet. That makes for a pretty impressive elevation difference of 3,506 feet within the city!"

Our thanks to everyone who helped us find the answers.

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Puzzled about something in our area? Send questions to linda.navarro@gazette.com with "Column Question" in the subject line; mail to "Did You Ever Wonder?," P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901; blog at gazette.com, Life. Queries must be signed.