ELDORADO CANYON STATE PARK, Colo. (KDVR) — The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission will consider implementing changes this week that would require reservations at Eldorado Canyon State Park.
The number of people visiting the park just outside Boulder has exploded. Back in 2015, about 300,000 visitors entered the park.
Just last year that number nearly doubled to about 540,000! CPW describes Eldorado Canyon State Park as a hidden treasure.
“Timed entry would help spread the use the of the facility over the entire day and make it more accessible for people that want to come in,” park manager John Carson said.
“Eldo” which is just outside Eldorado Springs is wildly popular with hikers and climbers.
So many cars go to the park on the weekends, lines can back up onto and clog the main dirt road in Eldorado Springs.
“People that enter the park when it’s full we tell them to try the shuttle service that the park has or to try to come back at a different time when the park is not so busy,” Carson said.
There are only 200 spaces in the park.
The idea of having to make a reservation is not so popular with some people. But for Nate Smith, it is just fine.
“If timed entry means it’s a little more exclusive. I don’t think it’s a horrible thing. It’s more of you and nature, rather than you and a large group of people,” Smith said.
Those groups could soon be much smaller if the state requires hikers and climbers to reserve a space before coming to the park.
The idea of implementing the changes will be introduced at the commission’s meeting on Wednesday. But the commission is not expected to make a decision until May.
Other parks could follow suit. It would be similar to what people have to do now to visit Rocky Mountain National Park.