$120,000 grant will fund new Ute Trail
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- Created on Monday, 14 March 2011 21:50
- Written by R. Scott Rappold
By R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette
The Ute Trail, a steep and twisting path from Manitou Springs into the mountains, has been used by humans for centuries, from the Utes to explorers to miners who followed it before there was a wagon road.
Thanks to a $120,000 grant, hikers will soon be able to follow in their footsteps.
The board of Colorado State Parks voted Friday to award the grant to El Paso County for construction of nearly 2 miles of trail along this historic route. The county and local trail advocates will spend $41,500.
“It’s probably the most historic trail in all of the state of Colorado,” said Dick Bratton, a hiker from Green Mountain Falls and member of the committee that awards the grants. “It serviced early Americans, way back, and early explorers, trappers, pioneers, traders, gold seekers, Ute Indians.”
There is a social trail there now, running from Winter Street in Manitou to the water treatment plant and up to Green Mountain Falls. But it is steep and eroding and closed on the Green Mountain Falls side because it goes onto private property, Bratton said.
Click here for Utilities documents on the project and go to page 27.
The funding will be used to re-route the trail around private property and Rattlesnake Gulch and onto land owned by Colorado Springs Utilities.
For the county, it’s a step toward realizing a goal of having a trail from Manitou Springs to the Teller County line.
“We’re slowly making progress and this will be just a wonderful addition to the trail system,” said Tim Wolken, the county’s community services director.
He hopes construction on the new trail can begin this year. It will begin at the same trailhead as Barr Trail and the Manitou Incline, running west to meet the social trail above the water treatment plant.
There are no plans for additional parking for the trail, in an often-congested area that serves several popular trails.
Funding for the grant comes from several sources, the largest being state lottery funds. Statewide, $1.7 million was awarded to eight of 21 projects.
This photo from the Pikes Peak Library District is from the 1935 dedication of a monument to the Ute Trail:
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