Hanging Lake Trail closes indefinitely due to damage caused by Glenwood Canyon mudslides

GLENWOOD CANYON, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Hanging Lake Trail in the White River National Forest is closed indefinitely due to severe damage caused by debris and mudslides.

The popular trail is closed through the rest of 2021 and into 2022. According to officials, many of the trails seven bridges were completely washed out by mudslide debris flows.

Hanging Lake Trail only recently reopened following the 2020 Grizzly Creek fire.

Forest officials told 9News the repairs are not minor. Crews will have to completely rebuild trails.

Lack of road access will make the rebuild difficult.

Officials are also bracing for the possibility of more mudslides.

"The debris flows we saw in July are probably not the last we will see, so there could be additional damage in the weeks and months ahead," said White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams to 9News.

Additionally, the cost to reconstruct the trail to Hanging Lake will be significant. Proceeds from reservations go to support Hanging Lake and the trail, but now, thousands of reservations have to be refunded.

According to the forest service, there were 15,000 reservations made to hike Hanging Lake. Officials expected to see an additional 20,000 reservations made this year.

Officials say the financial impact of losing the funding provided by reservations will be heavy.