Board OKs recreation area, putting plan on fast track

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jun 18, 2004 by BILL VOGRIN THE GAZETTE

Hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders and rock climbers will be turned loose on the new 789-acre Red Rock Canyon Open Space months earlier than expected.

A September opening is planned, once city crews build a parking lot and restroom and volunteers carve out some of the trails described in the park's new master plan.

The work can begin because the city Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on Thursday unanimously approved the master plan.

"A September opening is a lot sooner than I wanted," said Terry Putman, the city's Trails, Open Space and Parks program manager, "but the public wants in there, so we're going to open it."

He said it will take years to finish the $12.5 million west-side park at U.S. 24 Highway and Ridge Road.

Time is needed to transform the property from its previous lives as a mobile home park, landfill and quarry into open space where members of the public can climb on soaring sandstone cliffs, free- ride on mountain bikes or enjoy leisurely hikes and horseback rides.

Before anyone gets in, crews must remove two dozen mobile homes and rental homes scattered on 83 acres at the north end of the area.

Crews already are dismantling the "hanging garden" John and Joan Bock built by two ponds: large fuel tanks filled with water to irrigate flowers planted in cement culverts.

And then there's the longtime home and bomb shelter of the Bocks, who owned the canyon property for decades and ran the trailer park.

"We may end up bulldozing all of it," Putman said. "All of the houses are in pretty bad shape."

Besides demolition, some construction is necessary before the park opens. Crews will create a parking lot and a restroom off the main gate at Ridge Road.

For now, existing social trails will be supplemented by volunteer- built connectors between the main canyons.

In fact, about 200 volunteers are being recruited to work Aug. 28- 29 at the park.

"We need to get some connector trails between the canyons and the social trails," said Chris Lieber, a city trails coordinator. "That will be our initial focus."

When completed, Red Rock Canyon Open Space will feature 17 miles of trails -- rated like ski runs in green, blue and black -- winding around stunning vertical rock formations, past its ponds, quarries and caves and through canyons with the names Sand, Greenlee and Red Rock.

Three entrances will spread people and cars throughout five parking lots in the park.

Besides the main gate at Ridge Road, secondary entrances and parking lots will be built at 31st and 26th streets on the east side of the park.

There will be room for about 150 cars inside the park, although there will be no driving loop, as in Garden of the Gods Park to the north.

The topography of Red Rock Canyon, with its cliffs and box canyons, doesn't permit a perimeter road, Lieber said.

Trails will focus on history, geology, or simply peace and quiet.

The "history loop" will take hikers past two quarries, a cave and the foundation of an old gold stamp mill. It also boasts panoramic views of Colorado Springs.

The "geology loop" will feature interpretive signs highlighting the unique rock formations in the park such as the cliffs, hogbacks, vertical plates and spires.

The "contemplative loop" will take hikers to especially quiet spots, such as Sand Canyon, which is tucked in the west side of the property.

At Thursday's meeting, critics suggested more trails should be disabled-accessible. Under the master plan, only one main loop down the center of Red Rock Canyon is fully accessible.

The park will have equestrian trails, free-ride mountain bike trails and off-leash dog parks.

Technical rock climbing will be permitted in three areas, and picnic grounds will be created.

About 53 acres of the park -- an area that once served as a landfill -- generally will be off-limits.

Officials envision Red Rock Canyon -- considered a geologic extension of Garden of the Gods -- quickly becoming a "locals'" hangout.

Garden of the Gods attracts people from around the world to see the famous Balanced Rock and Kissing Camels formations, and the park can be gridlocked in tourism months, as between 1.5 million and 2 million crowd inside its 1,390 acres.

"This park is not set up as a tourist-type park," Putman said. "I hope locals will move down there and relieve some of the pressure on Garden of the Gods."

Excitement is running high among open-space advocates who campaigned for years to get the city to buy Red Rock Canyon and preserve it from development.

Lobbying the City Council began as soon as voters approved the 0.1- cent Trails and Opens Space sales tax in 1997.

It intensified in April 2003 when voters overwhelmingly approved extending the tax until 2025.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0193 or bvogrin@gazette.com

TO VOLUNTEER

Anyone interested in volunteering to help build trails Aug. 28-29 at Red Rock Canyon Open Space can sign up with the Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado online at www.voc.org, write them at 600 South Marion Parkway, Denver, 80209, or call 1-800-925-2220.