Colorado’s Hanging Lake trail is getting some much-needed restoration

GLENWOOD CANYON — The 1.2-mile climb to Hanging Lake, with its steep, rocky ascent, is breathtaking because of its 1,000-foot elevation gain.

But the payoff at the top, where waterfalls spill into the picturesque blue-green lake, is breathtaking for an entirely different reason — its natural beauty.

The past four years have been hard on the popular Colorado trail, the lake and the surrounding White River National Forest. Hanging Lake survived the Grizzly Creek fire that burned 33,000 acres in Glenwood Canyon and surrounding areas in 2020, but the damage triggered a series of floods that have led to closures off and on in the years since.

Now, the U.S. Forest Service is leading a $4.5 million reconstruction project that local leaders hope will help the Hanging Lake trail hold up to future natural disasters. Work starts this week with plans to replace bridges, add a boardwalk, rebuild some sections of the trail and other measures to protect the surrounding forest.

The goal is to create a durable trail that can withstand almost any natural disaster for the next 100 years, said Leanne Veldhuis, district ranger for the White River National Forest’s Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District.

“It’s truly a one-of-a-kind gem,” Veldhuis said Thursday during a news conference to kick off the reconstruction project and to take visitors up to the lake before work starts. “We have been through a journey with Hanging Lake over the years.”

On Thursday morning, Hanging Lake sparkled in the sun, showing off its turquoise hues while two ducks floated on top. The waterfalls were flowing fast and splashing into the lake, creating ripples across the water.

Two brilliant blue Steller’s jays sat in pine trees and a spring white butterfly flitted around.

Above the lake, the Spouting Rock waterfall roared with the fury of spring snowmelt. Its whitewater burst over the top and through the hole in the rock that gives the waterfall its name.

The scene helps visitors immediately forget their burning quadriceps and lungs gasping for air following the steep climb.

“We call this a treasure for a reason,” said Colleen Pennington, Glenwood Canyon manager for the White River National Forest.

When the Grizzly Creek fire consumed the canyon, everyone held their collective breath over how it would impact Hanging Lake. While trees along the surrounding canyon burned and fell into the stream and along the trail, the lake suffered little damage.

That was a relief to people across Colorado, but especially those in nearby Glenwood Springs, where the economy depends on tourism. And Hanging Lake is a huge attraction — so much so that about 1,000 people would use the trail on summer days before the pandemic and wildfire.

Glenwood Springs Mayor Ingrid Wussow called the lake’s survival a miracle.

“This was saved,” she said on Thursday. “A gift from Mother Nature.”

Access to trail limited by fire, floods

Although it was saved, public access to Hanging Lake has been limited since the wildfire.

Damage from the Grizzly Creek fire forced the U.S. Forest Service to close the popular hiking area for 10 months until May 2021. It was not safe for visitors.

Then, in July 2021, heavy rains sent wildfire debris — fallen trees and branches, boulders and rocks — through the canyon and wrecked the trail, knocking out bridges and blocking the path in multiple spots.

The Forest Service built a temporary trail and reopened the area in June 2022 so people could visit the beloved lake.

But the spring of 2023 brought more flooding and debris slides due to heavy snowmelt, and the trail needed to be closed intermittently throughout the season.

Now it’s time to take long-term measures to prevent further closures, Veldhuis said.

Multiple agencies are kicking in money to fund the $4.5 million project. Great Outdoors Colorado, funded by the Colorado Lottery, is contributing $2.3 million. The rest will be funded by the White River National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the National Forest Foundation and Glenwood Springs.

“We’re building a really complex trail through a burned landscape and making it last 100 years,” said Marcus Selig, chief conservation officer for the National Forest Foundation. “That is not an easy task.”

At the trailhead, workers will construct a pergola in a newly expanded walkway with new informational boards. Planners hope the expanded trailhead will eliminate some of the trampling of vegetation that happens now as people stop to rest or play along the creek before it splashes into the Colorado River.

Building seven new bridges

Workers also will replace seven bridges along the trail. All will look the same, Pennington said.

On Thursday, she stopped to talk about a bridge that had been rebuilt after debris flows knocked it out of place in 2021. She and a work crew carried the wood up the trail to build the crossing so people could visit Hanging Lake.

“It was a test of teamwork,” she said.

The new bridges will be constructed with similar labor, although some pieces will be flown by helicopter into the canyon. The new crossings also will be wider and longer so they can better withstand the fallen trees and rocks that might spill down the canyon in future floods, Veldhuis said.

Two of the bridges will be relocated to crossing locations that provide better stream clearance.

The project also calls for a new boardwalk around Spouting Rock, the waterfall that blows through a hole in the rock wall 200 feet above Hanging Lake. In the past, visitors have trekked through mud and climbed over rocks to see the waterfall. That damages plants around the waterfall, and the boardwalk will prevent erosion.

Finally, the trail was a Civilian Conservation Corps project in the 1930s, and a small shack and some portions of a rock wall still stand. Those structures will be stabilized in hopes of improving their longevity.

“Worthy of all the energy we’re putting into it”

But there is a downside to the upcoming work for Hanging Lake’s fans: Reservations to access the trail will be hard to get.