The Kissing Camels

The Kissing Camels formation sits at the very top of North Gateway Rock. These lovestruck camels are often said to be engaged in the longest kiss on record. In fact, their rock-bound flirtation has given rise to the Legend of the Kissing Camels, first published by Laura Mecum in 1926. Laura attributed this legend to what she called the translation of hieroglyphics found in a hidden cavern in the Rockies.

The Kissing Camels
The story centers around two young lovers named Alpha and Omega, each of whom belonged to a different warring tribe. One day the pair were caught in each other's arms. They were carried to the top of North Gateway Rock, where they were burned to death in separate funeral pyres. "And in the morning," so the legend ends, "when the sun looked on the smoke blackened cliff, there was seen the kneeling figures of two camels with lips pressed together in a deathless kiss of love."


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Source: Pike's Peak Yesterday and Today, by Laura T. Mecum. Colorado Springs: Gowdy Printing, 1926.