Repairing the Incline, a step at a time
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- Created on Monday, 11 April 2011 23:20
- Written by Dena Rosenberry
By Dave Philipps, The Gazette
The latest plans for the Manitou Incline say it needs a management agreement between local governments, signs displaying the rules of use, an engineering plan, a big pile of money to pay for that plan, a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service, and a trailhead with a bike rack.
But if you ask Charles Lindsey, what the Incline really needs is about 1,000 pieces of rebar. That and some elbow grease.
“If we could get that it would go a long way toward holding this thing together,” Lindsey said Friday as he stared up at the estimated 2,744 railroad ties rising in a steep jumble that have become a popular, if illegal, hiking trail. “Hell, if someone would donate them, I’d pound them in myself.”
The Incline is falling apart.
(To help Charles Lindsey, send an email to:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
)
Local governments have done nothing to keep the ties from tumbling. Lindsey is part of a small band of maintenance men working to save it. They use rebar to anchor wooden ties to the hillside.
Keeping the Incline together has always been an issue. During the 83 years it operated as a tourist railroad, daily maintenance kept the ties in place and the drainages clear. Then the railway closed in 1990; no official work has been done since.
“Gravity is just pulling it down,” said Sarah Bryarly, who oversees the effort to open the Incline to hikers for the City of Colorado Springs. (The Incline is still closed, and will be until at least October, though hundreds of people daily trespass.)
In the last decade rain has torn gullies along the sides. Several ties have tumbled loose. The need for repair was a driving force behind the movement to open the Incline. But opening it has taken longer than most expected.
The plan for Colorado Springs to take over management was first announced in the summer of 2008. Colorado Springs City Councilman Scott Hente said he hoped it would be open by the spring of 2009.
Since then, Colorado Springs has spent $95,500 in grants and donations to create a management plan, but neither the city nor Manitou Springs has spent $1 to stabilize the route.
“If I had that kind of money I could take care of this thing for 10 years,” Lindsey said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
See GREAT photos of Charles Lindsey working on the Incline and hikers tackling it.
He started walking up the ties, a pick ax in one hand, a bucket with a spade, gloves and a sledge hammer in the other.
Lindsey, 56, is a former cop and investigator. His business card says “handyman” but, officially, he is retired. He started climbing the Incline about 15 years ago when it attracted a trickle of hikers, and became hooked. Over the years, he watched it become a phenomenon that now draws an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people a year.
And he watched the trail deteriorate.
This spring he has replaced 15 ties.
“It grows worse every year,” he said. “You have to keep on it. If one tie comes out, the others above and below it will soon come out, and the whole thing can domino.”
He became an Incline steward about three years ago when four ties came loose and tumbled to the side just below the steepest section. He and another hiker worked to secure them in place.
He couldn’t stop there. He returned with tools. He started scheduling work days.
These days he sees the upkeep as a point of pride.
“I take a loose tie personally now,” he said.
(Join the Incline Nation and see how your time stacks up against the rest of us.)
Trudging up the grade last week he stopped every so often to replace a rotten tie, or lug a rock out of the woods to bolster an eroding bank. Sweat dripped down his face as he dug and pounded with his sledge hammer.
Official plans call for volunteers to work on the Incline this summer, perhaps pruning brush and clearing drainage channels.
Officials have said volunteers couldn’t handle the heavy work and wouldn’t want to.
However, hikers passing Lindsey as he worked Friday expressed interest in helping him.
No official efforts to maintain the “trail” are likely to take place until after construction plans are drawn up in 2012.
Lindsey realizes what he does is probably illegal. But employees of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which owns much of the grade, wave to him when he passes by with pick and bucket.
So he encourages others to join his illicit efforts. He needs helping hands. He needs people to contribute 2-foot lengths of rebar. And he needs folks to help carry them up the Incline.
“It’s not rocket science, you can learn what to do pretty quick,” he said as he piled rocks along an eroding bank. “We’re not going to fix it for good, but something is better than nothing.”
At that moment he was interrupted by a sinewy hiker named Greg who was lunging up the steps.
“Prince Charles!” he shouted between breaths. “A prince among men! Thank you so much for what you do!”
Dozens of hikers had thanked Lindsey that morning, and a few had stopped to help him move particularly large rocks. But Greg reached into his pocket and handed Lindsey $7.
“Take this for the cause!” he said.
“Thanks,” said Lindsey. “I’ll put it toward rebar.”
PHOTO: Charles Lindsey shores up a sliding railroad tie Friday on the Manitou Incline while a steady stream of hikers climb the popular trail. Christian Murdock, The Gazette
(To help Charles Lindsey, send an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
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Contact the writer: 636-0223
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