FOX RUN

The Fox Run area is where the north side starts to feel like the forest. Head northeast from the busier parts of 80921 and the lots get bigger, the ponderosas close in, and the houses sit farther back from the road. At the center of it all is Fox Run Regional Park, which is the main reason a lot of people end up looking here in the first place.

The lay of the land

The neighborhoods here sit around the park, off Roller Coaster Road and Stella Drive, close to where northern Colorado Springs, Monument and Black Forest meet. The Ridge at Fox Run borders the west side of the park. Pleasant View Estates runs along the park’s southern edge, with Sun Hills just south of that. High Meadow at Fox Run sits west of Pleasant View, next to the northern part of Gleneagle. Across Baptist Road to the northwest is Sanctuary Pointe. To the east across Roller Coaster and to the north across Baptist, you’ll find a mix of privately owned parcels from one acre to 20-plus.

Compared with the rest of the north side, tree cover is the big difference. Many lots here are wooded with mature ponderosa pine, which brings shade, privacy and a real break from the wind on a gusty day. It also brings real wildfire responsibilities, which I cover below.

Our family sponsors the county’s Adopt-a-Road stretch of Roller Coaster Road between Old Northgate and Stella Drive, so I’m out on this road every few months picking up trash. It’s a good way to really know a place.

The park

I’ll admit some bias here. I grew up just down the street from Fox Run Regional Park, and it’s my favorite park in the county. The only one I’d put in the same conversation is Bear Creek on the southwest side of town.

The park covers 417 acres of pine forest and open meadow, with about four miles of multi-use trails and two lakes, Aspen and Spruce, with fountains. A gazebo by the water hosts live music and events in the summer. The main area on the southeast side has most of the facilities, including the main playground, restrooms, pavilions, picnic tables and the dog park. A second playground on the southwest side has more pavilions and restrooms.

When I was a kid, the main playground was a giant wooden structure surrounded by wood chips, which was how everyone built them back then. It’s been replaced since, and the dog park came along in the last decade or so. We spent a lot of afternoons hunting crawdads in the ponds with hot dogs on a string, and if you look closely, you’ll still spot small turtles.

Keep an eye out for Abert’s squirrels while you’re there. They live in the ponderosas, and they’re somehow both easy and hard to spot: they’re black, with oversized tufted ears that are hard to miss, but they spend most of their time high up in the pines.

You’ll still see riders on the trails, too. There were more in the ’80s and ’90s, when more of the surrounding properties kept horses, but equestrians are still part of the park. That’s led to a long-running, good-natured local debate: dog owners are required to pick up after their dogs, and riders generally don’t pick up after their horses. Having grown up with horses, I’ll just say it’s mostly hay and water.

A few privately owned parcels still sit inside the park’s boundaries. Our family was honored to help one set of neighbors split their 20-acre parcel there into three homesites.

The park has a longer history than most people realize. The area was logged by sawmills in the 1860s, and in the 1930s a nearby fox farm shipped as many as 200,000 furs in a single year. Most were red foxes, but the rarer silver-coated ones were the real prize, with pelts selling for as much as $1,000 apiece. El Paso County set aside the land as Fox Run in 1986. The Palmer Divide history site has a short write-up worth reading.

The county had also planned to build its newest nature center here. In September 2025, it paused the project indefinitely because of the economic environment. The plans are complete, so it could pick back up later.

The homes

The neighborhoods around Fox Run were mostly built from the late 1970s through the early 2000s. Pleasant View Estates is the older of the group, and Ridge at Fox Run and High Meadow came later. Expect larger homes on lots that often run half an acre or more, many with walkout basements and decks set into the trees. Styles vary, since a lot of these were semi-custom or custom builds.

Worth knowing before you buy

Wildfire mitigation is part of ownership. Wooded lots need defensible space: thinned trees, cleared ladder fuels, and attention to what’s planted near the house. Insurance carriers increasingly look at this, so ask about any mitigation work that’s been done and get an insurance quote early.

School district lines run through here. Some of the Fox Run area is in Lewis-Palmer District 38 and some is in Academy District 20. Check the specific address before you assume.

Utilities and services. Pleasant View and the homes around it are served by the Academy Water and Sanitation District, a small district of about 310 homes. Most have district water and sewer, but some use district water with a septic system, so confirm which applies to any home you’re considering. Academy’s wastewater is treated at Donala’s plant under an agreement between the two districts. Ridge at Fox Run and High Meadow are also on district water and sewer rather than wells. Confirm the provider for any specific address.

Snow under the trees. Shaded streets and driveways hold ice longer. It’s a small thing until it’s January.

Nearby neighborhoods

For more acreage and room for horses, Black Forest is just to the east, and Sun Hills offers five-acre homesites closer to I-25. For newer construction just across Baptist Road, see Sanctuary Pointe. If you want the trees with more neighborhood amenities, Woodmoor in Monument is a natural comparison. Gleneagle has older homes on generous lots, closer to the interstate.

For the bigger picture, see the Northgate hub.

Current market and listings

The north side’s latest numbers are in my monthly Market Update. Active listings in 80921 are below. Wooded lots are one of my favorite things to walk with buyers, because the property lines, slopes and tree health are hard to read from listing photos.