Bear Creek Regional Park Fall 2026: Events and Planned Closures

The two biggest park changes reaching Skyway's corner of the west side in 2027 have something in common. Neither is new. At Bear Creek Regional Park, El Paso County is rebuilding tennis courts, a parking lot and an archery range that its own budget documents describe as worn out. On West Cheyenne Road, the city is reopening a park that Winfield Scott Stratton finished in 1902. Both projects put old ground back into use.

This fall Bear Creek Nature Center also closes out its 50th anniversary year. It is a building that has already been rebuilt once. Its October calendar and the county's construction schedule overlap for the next several weeks. Both are worth knowing about before the next Saturday at the park.

A Fiftieth Year That Ends In October Costumes

Bear Creek Nature Center opened in 1976 as the Solar Trails Center, the first nature center in Colorado. It took its current name in 1980. The big birthday party, the 50th "Bear-thday" celebration, was held August 22. The center still has a few events left this season, and they fall on a short run of autumn weekends alongside events at the Zoo and in Old Colorado City.

Boo! at Bear Creek falls on the same Friday that Boo at the Zoo opens. Both need advance planning: Bear Creek requires prepaid registration, and the Zoo requires a timed ticket to park on site. The Bear Run started in 2015 and, according to the county, is still one of the nature center's most successful fundraisers. That makes the November 7 run the last major event of the anniversary year.

The Building Behind The Birthday Was Already Rebuilt Once

The nature center's 50-year timeline is mostly a list of rebuilds. Crews added a wooden boardwalk and plaza in the summer of 1985, and the center was expanded with new exhibits going into 1995. An early-morning arson fire destroyed the building on May 20, 2000. It reopened on May 14, 2002, and was dedicated to the citizens of El Paso County on June 8 of that year.

It was tested again in 2008, when the recession cut the staff to a single full-time employee. With help from the Friends of El Paso County Nature Centers, the center stayed open. More upgrades followed. The exhibit room was redone in 2018 around a Greenback Cutthroat Trout display, the Trailability program began in 2022, and the Visually Impaired Persons Trail opened in 2023 in partnership with the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. The two miles of self-guided trail through short grass prairie, scrub oak and cottonwood creek bottom have stayed where they were the whole time. The facilities around them are what keep being replaced.

What The County Is Fencing Off, And Why

On September 28, El Paso County posted its plan for the park's tennis and pickleball area. The package includes two new tennis courts, six new pickleball courts, a shaded plaza, a renovated archery range and an expanded paved parking lot. The county expects construction to start this fall and finish in spring 2027. It says the timing was chosen to stay clear of the park's busy summer season. The project area will be closed throughout construction for demolition, heavy machinery and grading. The rest of the park stays open. As of that notice, the county had not announced exact closure dates or confirmed that crews had started.

The county's October 2025 critical-needs presentation explains why the work is happening now. It describes each piece as a repair:

1. Tennis courts. Of the four existing courts, "two courts are unusable and closed" and the other two are deteriorating. The plan turns the closed pair into six pickleball courts and resurfaces the other two for tennis. That portion of the budget is $750,000.
2. Parking. The current gravel lot is listed as "at capacity" and described as dusty, eroding, steep and dead-ended. The plan expands it, regrades it and paves it.
3. Archery. The range at Bear Creek Terrace is "beyond useful life" and does not meet current standards. The structure will be torn down and replaced at a cost of $200,000.

That presentation put the total budget at $2.05 million. The county's 2026 Capital Improvement Program lists $250,000 for design and $1.8 million for construction, drawn from county capital improvement funds and Conservation Trust Funds.

The project touches both halves of the park. The county's park page lists Bear Creek East at 21st Street and West Rio Grande Avenue and Bear Creek Terrace at 21st Street and Argus Road. The archery replacement is at Bear Creek Terrace, on the west side, according to the presentation. The county's 2014 master plan places Bear Creek Dog Park on that west side as well. The county has not said how construction traffic or fencing will affect each nearby trail, pavilion or playground. Posted closure signs are the best guide this winter.

Bear Creek has done this before. In June 2021, the Gazette reported that 12 pickleball courts opened at the park in place of four worn-out tennis courts. The Pikes Peak Pickleball Association contributed $100,000 to that project, and El Pomar added a $20,000 grant. This fall's work is the second time in about five years that tired tennis courts at Bear Creek are being rebuilt with pickleball added.

A Park From 1902 Returns On West Cheyenne Road

About a mile and a half south of Skyway, the City of Colorado Springs is getting ready to reopen a park that is much older than Bear Creek. On September 10, the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Advisory Board approved a master and management plan for 8.48 acres at 1819 W. Cheyenne Road, now named Old Stratton Park.

The land was part of Cheyenne Park, which Winfield Scott Stratton built at the base of the canyons. Visitors arrived by streetcar to enjoy the creek, the pond and the walking trails, and the park was completed in 1902. Stratton died that year, and pieces of the park were sold off over time for homes. The remaining acreage went to the P.E.O. Chapter House in the mid-1960s. The city acquired it after P.E.O. put the property up for sale in 2021.

The plan keeps the park small and quiet. The city's September 29 release lists the improvements that will open it to the public in 2027: a natural soft-surface walking trail, street parking along West Cheyenne Road, an entrance and rules kiosk, creek overlooks, and post-and-dowel fencing, with boundary markers to separate the park from neighboring private property. The city says it has funding for that first phase. Dogs, bicycles and e-bikes will not be allowed. Adaptive mobility devices will be permitted. The city has not yet decided whether the former P.E.O. building will be renovated or removed.

"Old Stratton Park offers something a little different from many of the recreation areas around it," said Lonna Thelen, the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Design and Development Manager, describing "a quieter place to walk, experience nature and learn about the natural and cultural history of the site."

Nearby Stratton Open Space is also on the city's fall trackchair schedule, with free, registration-required sessions October 7 through 9 for people with mobility impairments.

The Same Pattern Up The Canyon

This summer showed the same habit on the roads above Skyway. North Cheyenne Cañon Road and Gold Camp Road closed after storm damage in June. According to the Gazette, they reopened to vehicles on July 1 and July 2 once repairs were done. The routes are the same as before; only the damage was fixed.

Bear Creek's courts and parking lot are expected back in spring 2027, and Old Stratton Park is due to open sometime in 2027. More background on the trails and open space around the neighborhood is on our Skyway neighborhood page and in our look at why outdoor enthusiasts gravitate to Skyway.

Projects like these can matter when you are thinking about a move, whether it's a new pickleball complex down the street or a protected creek park around the corner. If you'd like to talk through how the west side's 2027 park changes relate to your own plans, Eric Scott is glad to share what he knows. Book a private consultation.