Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Most Manitou officials want fees to hike the Incline

By R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

THE GAZETTE

An agreement for legally opening the Manitou Incline trail is set for council votes in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs Tuesday, but after a contentious meeting Wednesday night, it’s anybody’s guess whether the latter will approve it.

The Manitou Springs City Council special meeting revealed a deep divide among council members, with some wanting a fee to hike the trail in place before signing the inter-governmental agreement with Colorado Springs. A fee would curb the up to 500,000 people who visit each year.

Incline photo gallery from member Marty France

“I have to represent people in my ward who are sick and tired of the number of people coming into town to use the Incline,” said councilman Matt Carpenter, the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon champion whose Incline workouts helped to popularize the trail in the 1990s.

“If you can’t honestly say to me how we’re going to have less people, then I would personally vote to shut the thing,” he said.

In response to similar concerns voiced by council members last week, a clause was added to the inter-governmental agreement, calling for the two cities to “research and evaluate” instituting fees in the third year of legal use if volunteer work, grants and donations aren’t enough to pay for work on the trail.

Read a special report about the history of the Incline and how we got here

But Carpenter and some others want the fee in place upon legal opening – or to delay that legal opening.

“I’m not in a hurry to open it,” said Councilman Michael Gerbig. “Maybe we should set it out there in the distance a little bit so people understand this is not opening tomorrow.”

Colorado Springs officials said a fee would place the city, which will manage the trail, at too great a legal liability, as well as require a higher level of review by the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the top section. That agency is preparing to issue a special use permit.

Other changes to the agreement since last week’s meeting include establishing a review committee between the cities to address concerns and a dispute resolution process.

No council members appeared enthusiastic about the Incline, or the additional people its legal opening could bring into Manitou. But some see the IGA as making the best of a bad situation.

“It is going to get worse before it gets better, but it is going to get better,” said Councilman Randy Hodges. “The getting better, I feel, is when we get to the point when we’ve gone through the process when we can start charging fees and we set those fees to a level that it stops some people from coming up there.”

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