COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The two road entrance points for North Cheyenne Cañon Park in Colorado Springs remain blocked by gates and barricades.
A family visiting from Oklahoma who decided to visit the park after an internet search learned information on the internet is not always up to date.
“Google Maps was kind of confused.”
After going from gate to gate they figured out they could leave their vehicle outside the gates and hike on one of the trails.
The inconvenience is because of rushing water from rain and runoff a week earlier, washing out a segment of the paved road in the park.
“There are going to be trucks moving through that corridor. It's not safe for recreation on the road,” said Scott Abbott with Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation.
Even though Gold Camp Road, the upper dirt road in the park, is still passable it is also blocked because it cannot accommodate extra traffic.
“We would see overcrowding to the numbers that would be uncontrollable and, quite honestly, unsafe for the public to be in there,” said Abbott.
Vehicles are blocked but there are some trails still open to hikers and bikers.
Caution is also necessary for trail users because of trail damage and some trees down.
“Soil is very soft and it allows old trees to come down,” said Abbott, “So not only are we assessing trail conditions and the surfacing, we're also assessing if there's trees down.”
Park maintenance crews and rangers are surveying for damage and welcome reports of issues spotted by the public.
“We really rely on those extra eyes and ears out there through the public eye,” said Abbott.
Most days since the washout, afternoon rainstorms have continued, and it is slowing the process of creating a plan for repairs.
For now it means there is no timeline for when the gates will reopen.
Park managers remind there are many other amazing open space parks in the area.
Abbott said, “This is a great time to explore some parks and some open spaces, some trail systems that maybe you haven't visited before.”___
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