Volunteers needed for Intemann-Red Rock link project Aug. 14

       A call is going out for volunteers to help build a trail link from the Intemann Trail in Section 16 to Red Rock Canyon Open Space.
       The first workday on the project is Sunday, Aug. 14.
       According to Colorado Springs Parks Development Manager Chris Lieber, the link will allow the opening of trails that till now have been closed to the public at the upper (south) end of the 788.1-acre Westside open-space property. A link to Section 16 also means access to the adjacent Bear Creek Park and Pike National Forest.
       City Parks is joining with the volunteer Intemann Trail Committee (ITC) to accomplish the roughly half-mile project. The trail link will be alongside a scenic canyon that runs through both Red Rock and Section 16.
       At least 50 workers are being sought. Work times are 8 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. The meeting place will be at the Red Rock Canyon main entrance off Highway 24 and High Street/Ridge Road. People will be shuttled from there to a staging area at the south end of the Red Rock property. Tools will be provided.
       Volunteers are asked to pre-register with Kim King in City Parks at 385-6509 or with the ITC at 473-4143.
       Because of the rough terrain south of Red Rock, the site for the Intemann link is practically the only place where a route can be found, according to a spokesperson for the ITC. The canyon is next to a broad meadow there.
       With the views that will present themselves along the planned trail line, Lieber believes it will be a trail people want to take for its own merits. “It will be more than just a connection,” he enthused.
       A trail that the city hopes to open in conjunction with the Intemann-Red Rock link is the one into the open space from the Bevers Place access in Manitou Springs' Crystal Hills subdivision, Lieber said.
       Also in the south part of the Red Rock property are certain roads - cut in during the 80-some years that the Bock family owned the land - that the city has been planning to turn into trails. One of the reasons for waiting has been a concern that people might meander up into the Section 16 meadow and create unengineered social trails, which would be a problem from both a drainage and aesthetic standpoint.
       The expectation is that a second day (and possibly a third) will be needed to complete the link. The second day is tentatively set for Saturday, Sept. 24. Depending on Intemann Trail maintenance priorities, ITC volunteers may also work on the trail at their previously scheduled workday Sept. 17.
       The ITC is an 18-year-old group which built the 5-mile Intemann Trail between Section 16 and Manitou Springs and continues to maintain it.

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