Palmer Lake is a Statutory Town in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,179 at the 2000 census. The city is bordered by the Greenland Open Space Preserve to the north, Pike National Forest to the west, Monument to the south, and Ben Lomond and the I-25 corridor to the east. Palmer Lake is the beginning of the 14-mile (23 km) Santa Fe Regional Trail. The trail is one of the largest continuous trails in El Paso County, running south through Monument to the southern boundary of the Air Force Academy along the historic Atkinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way.