Manitou Incline sees 1,000 hikers per day, some worried funds can’t keep up with wear

People are concerned heavy traffic on the Manitou Incline is damaging the trail to a point where it’s maintenance funding will no longer keep up with the daily wear.

More than 1,000 people hike the Manitou Incline every year. That’s over a million hikers in the last 5 years.

We spoke to officials at Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation, which is responsible for maintaining the Incline, to see how officials think the infrastructure is holding up.

Scott Abbott, Manager of trails including the Incline, says he believes the maintenance from past projects is holding up for now, but he can’t foresee the future:.

“It’s hard for us to gauge what the future maintenance needs will be,” Abbott explains. “It’s so new to us.”

The Incline opened to the public in 2013. Before then, locals say the trail was a hazard.

“The tracks were there, the railroad ties, but there were a lot missing,” says Elizabeth Youngquist, who told us she’s been hiking the trail for 20 years. “You’d have to climb, and then you’d have to get on your hands and knees, I mean it was quite dangerous.”

Abbott says they’ve considered charging hikers who do the Incline, but people we talked to weren’t too fond of that idea.

“I don’t see any reason for them to pay. It’s a trail like any other trail,” said Youngquist.

Angelica Rodriguez agrees, saying, “I just don’t necessarily think we should have to pay for something that was once free or just that is a part of nature.”

Maintenance crews say they’re working on other ways to decrease traffic on the Incline. Abbott told KRDO there’s plans to cut a Northern return route back to Manitou in the near future.