Soon you could have to pay to hike to Hanging Lake

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Medical calls at Colorado’s Hanging Lake are straining the limited staff at a nearby fire department.

The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reported Sunday a proposal for a new Hanging Lake management plan will include a fee for trail access that Glenwood Springs Fire Department Chief Gary Tillotson hopes will provide some relief.

Tillotson is hopeful the fee will cut the number of hikers and enable the White River Forest Service to have regularly scheduled rangers on the trail who could be there to respond to issues and better educate hikers, which would hopefully translate into fewer medical calls

Last year the department was dispatched to 15 calls in a six-month period encompassing the tourist season. So far this year, the department has been dispatched six times to the trail.

A child died after a fall at the lake last week.