Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Graffiti covers some rocks at Rainbow Falls on the west end of Manitou Springs. El Paso County is finalizing a plan to clean up the spot, adding picnic areas and including a specific place for graffiti art.  Christian Murdock, The Gazette

BY JAKOB RODGERS,  THE GAZETTE

A plan in the works could finally rid Rainbow Falls of most — but not all — of its unnatural colors.

El Paso County officials are spending the next few weeks refining a plan to establish hiking trails, picnic overlooks and a designated place for graffiti art at the site, which, although scenic, has become a haven for crime and graffiti.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Jeff Greene, county administrator.

The initial plan is short on specifics, offering instead an outline that includes several aesthetic improvements to the oft-vandalized falls that — if approved by the El Paso County Commissioners — would be completed in the next three years.

Rainbow Falls photos from member Michael Roberts.

The trail from the current parking lot to the falls would be widened under the preliminary plan, and picnic overlooks would be built along the creek. A covered kiosk with historical information would also be constructed.

Much of the graffiti would be cleared away, though the county plans to set aside an area for graffiti art.

And to ensure the falls don’t end up in such disrepair again, surveillance would be enhanced in the area and the parking lot would be lit.

In about five years, planners hope to enhance the area’s fishing, build a trail along the creek, expand the parking area east of the trailhead along Serpentine Drive, and establish a regular volunteer clean-up schedule.

(See the initial draft master plan at the El Paso County Parks and Recreation website.)

Ultimately, organizers want to extend the trail system to link to Pikes Peak trails, as well as trails in Williams and Waldo canyons. In addition, officials want to remove the bridge and establish different access to Highway 24, a venture that could take 10 to 20 years.

El Paso County officials expect to refine the plan  in coming weeks and send a final plan to county commissioners for approval in early 2011.

Tim Wolken, El Paso County’s director of community services, said the county is working to secure about $80,000 for the project’s first year. A grant approved by Great Outdoors Colorado would supply more than $40,000, while the county would offer roughly $25,000.

El Paso officials are waiting to hear if a block grant worth more than $15,000 will be approved to round out initial funding.

L’Aura Montgomery, a leading advocate for cleaning up the falls, said the outline was an encouraging step in the five-year process to refurbish the falls.

She looks forward to the day when graffiti is stricken from the rock walls and “graffiti art” is restricted to one area.

“Man and nature can work together through art,” Montgomery said. “But what’s up there right now is not art.”

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Call the writer at 476-1654.