Paradise Lost?
Every year, close to 20,000 people visit Guffey Gorge, as the locals call it. To the throngs of party-goers who have taken over the spot on most summer weekends, it’s also called Paradise Cove.
Unmarked by any official sign, it’s still found pretty easily, thanks to social media. Once you get there, however, there are only a handful of parking spots, the trails are rough and the snow-fed water is ice-cold, even in August.
Still, what started as a word-of-mouth destination has escalated into a spot that can attract up to 600 people a day, at its peak. The traffic hazards, the loud music, the drinking and the drug use has made it a place that locals avoid, and now even resent. The popularity of the spot even creates tensions between those who want to experience the breathtaking beauty and those who are just there to party.
Harry Alarcon, a longtime resident of Guffey, says that it’s just too much now.
“That’s not what the point was. Go up there and get wet, you know? That’s all. It’s a splash pond, a swimmin’ hole. Now it’s not. Now it’s a thing. And once it becomes a thing, it changes. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
Residents have been working together with the Bureau of Land Management to find ways to minimize the number of visitors, police them a bit more and minimize the impact to the environment.
Kalem Lenard, of the BLM in Caon City, explained what an impact 20,000 visitors a year can have on a spot that’s not even remotely equipped for it.
“To put that into perspective, some of our most popular trail systems see that many visitors year-round. So, it’s a huge crush of people, upwards of 600 people a day in a pretty small, isolated spot.”
The BLM recently added a pair of port-a-potties and a full-sized dumpster to the parking lot, but bigger plans are coming down the pike. Some of the ideas that have been put forth are to put in a more permanent, plumbed bathroom, improve the trails and charge an admission fee, which would help to cut down the number of cars and pay for the improvements.
It appears that the goal, for both residents and officials alike, isn’t to expand the space, but instead to limit and better manage the number of visitors so that it’s not so dangerous.
That’s another big problem: the liability. Party-goers have taken to jumping off the very high cliffs that surround the swimming hole and are constantly being hurt to the point where locals have become used to seeing medical helicopters lifting out severely injured people. They are also very concerned about someone getting hit by a car on the blind hill where people park.
Bottom line: If you’re thinking of heading up to Guffey Gorge, or Paradise Cove: don’t. At least until the party moves on.
