EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KOAA) — There is a second round of mitigation work happening on a massive boulder that slid onto the heavily used Barr Trail.
“We were able to move some project work around, and actually were able to free up a week to send a crew up,” said Rocky Mountain Field Institute, Program Director, Carl Woody.
The Rock Mountain Field Institute is adding their expertise to the project started by the U.S. Forest Service a year ago when the first round of work had to happen quickly to improve access on the blocked trail.
“They actually did some micro blasting on the boulder, which did effectively make it passable,” said Woody.
Hundreds of people use the trail hiking to the top of Pikes Peak, working their way down after climbing the incline.
And there are special events like the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon.
El Paso County Search and Rescue has used the trail four times in the last two weeks to help people in distress get off the mountain.
Search and Rescue members made a special trip up to the boulder when it first slid onto the trail.
“Our team went up there on the weekend. They spent a couple hours just ensuring that we can safely navigate that boulder,” said Search and Rescue’s, Chris Valentine.
A decision was made to do more work to reduce issues caused by the boulder’s location on the trail.
“We spent a week up here,” said Woody, “chipping away, chipping away, chipping away.”
Cutting more of the boulder away required hiking in with specialized gear more than a mile up the mountain.
“We have rock drills with carbide bits that we can drill into the rock, and we use what's called feathers and wedges, and they're these little metal wedges that we tap into the rock at strategic points, and we can split the rock off,” said Woody.
The effort is for safety, accessibility and to mitigate erosion causedby trail users cutting down a steep grade near the boulder, mistaken as an alternate route.
“In order to build the trail back up, we actually sourced rock material from around the area and stacked them in a strategic way, essentially to build a wall,” said Woody.
A boulder sliding on to a favorite mobilized people who recognize the popularity and need to protect public lands.
“The Incline Friends, Friends of the Peak, obviously our friends at the Forest Service; taking care of this trail is an all hands on deck community effort.”
___
Federal investigations unfolded at two businesses in southeast Colorado Springs
The DEA says it is a part of an investigation with Homeland Security.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
