Colorado’s Paradise Cove getting new payment option
Fees will be accepted in a new way this summer at Guffey Gorge, the popular swimming hole in Park County also known as Paradise Cove.
While the drop box option will remain, “we’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years that not everyone carries $6 cash anymore,” said Kalem Lenard, who oversees the scenic site from the Bureau of Land Management’s Royal Gorge Field Office. “So just the fee collection side of it is kind of a hassle.”
Managers hope that’s alleviated through a digital option expected to roll out as the vehicle fee returns May 15-Sept. 30. Visitors are encouraged to download the Recreation.gov app before driving out to the trailhead, where they can scan and pay.
It’s a small change in what has been a decade of big changes at the granite-shaped cove, which hasn’t lived up to its “paradise” name.
New Pikes Peak Barr Camp caretakers find their ‘dream job’
The scene has been one of partying, danger and degradation. That’s been as land managers have counted annual visitors going from around 12,000 in 2011 to closer to 30,000 in 2016, before the fee started in 2018.
Over the years, music has been blasted and beer cans and liquor bottles left behind. Injuries have been common among people jumping from cliffs into the waterfall-fed pool, against the advice of posted signs. Flights for life have not been uncommon.
Neighbors have complained of cars blocking their driveways and lining the adjacent road, turning it into a narrow one-way. Hikers have trampled vegetation — “what keeps the water healthy, which keeps the fish healthy,” Lenard said.
“But then there’s just the social component. We’d get so many people coming in and being like, Man, I thought I was going to a beautiful, little swimming hole, and they’re kind of disgusted.”
Popular Manitou Springs waterfall remains closed amid safety issues
Lenard said things have improved since the visitor fee started four years ago. Revenue has paid for daily staff at the site during the busy season. Permanent bathrooms have been installed along with dumpsters, and regular trail maintenance has been ordered.
After a record visitation of about 41,000 in 2020, the tally was closer to 28,000 last year.
“I think that’s still probably more than what the site can handle,” Lenard said.
Ahead of summer, officials have reminded of rules against alcohol, glass, camping and parking along the road.
Mentioning reservations, “we really don’t want to go in that direction,” Lenard said. “I think we don’t have to as long as people can follow these kind of simple, basic tenets of being a good outdoor recreation participant.”
Colorado’s Paradise Cove getting new payment option
Fees will be accepted in a new way this summer at Guffey Gorge, the popular swimming hole in Park County also known as Paradise Cove.
While the drop box option will remain, “we’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years that not everyone carries $6 cash anymore,” said Kalem Lenard, who oversees the scenic site from the Bureau of Land Management’s Royal Gorge Field Office. “So just the fee collection side of it is kind of a hassle.”
Managers hope that’s alleviated through a digital option expected to roll out as the vehicle fee returns May 15-Sept. 30. Visitors are encouraged to download the Recreation.gov app before driving out to the trailhead, where they can scan and pay.
It’s a small change in what has been a decade of big changes at the granite-shaped cove, which hasn’t lived up to its “paradise” name.
New Pikes Peak Barr Camp caretakers find their ‘dream job’
The scene has been one of partying, danger and degradation. That’s been as land managers have counted annual visitors going from around 12,000 in 2011 to closer to 30,000 in 2016, before the fee started in 2018.
Over the years, music has been blasted and beer cans and liquor bottles left behind. Injuries have been common among people jumping from cliffs into the waterfall-fed pool, against the advice of posted signs. Flights for life have not been uncommon.
Neighbors have complained of cars blocking their driveways and lining the adjacent road, turning it into a narrow one-way. Hikers have trampled vegetation — “what keeps the water healthy, which keeps the fish healthy,” Lenard said.
“But then there’s just the social component. We’d get so many people coming in and being like, Man, I thought I was going to a beautiful, little swimming hole, and they’re kind of disgusted.”
Popular Manitou Springs waterfall remains closed amid safety issues
Lenard said things have improved since the visitor fee started four years ago. Revenue has paid for daily staff at the site during the busy season. Permanent bathrooms have been installed along with dumpsters, and regular trail maintenance has been ordered.
After a record 2020, visitation was tallied at about 28,000 last year.
“I think that’s still probably more than what the site can handle,” Lenard said.
Ahead of summer, officials have reminded of rules against alcohol, glass, camping and parking along the road.
Mentioning reservations, “we really don’t want to go in that direction,” Lenard said. “I think we don’t have to as long as people can follow these kind of simple, basic tenets of being a good outdoor recreation participant.”
