If the only thing you know about Manitou Springs, Colorado, is its famous ‘Incline,’ give yourself a pat on the back. But the Incline is only a slice of Manitou’s charm.
First, the world-famous Manitou Incline. It is not for casual hiker, by any stretch. Olympic athletes training nearby use the Incline—owned and operated by the city of Colorado Springs—to prepare for competition. From first step to the last—2,744 in all—it rises approximately 2,000 feet at a 68% grade. Exhaustion is the price you’ll pay. Otherwise, it’s free! Of course, you’ll need a reservation, snacks and sunscreen are also a good idea. But don’t even think about taking a pet. They’re prohibited.
“I try and do it once a year,” said Golden resident, Lisa Baxter who checked off her Manitou pilgrimage just last week. “But it does take some planning,” she said. While the opens at six each morning, without a reservation, it “gets filled up pretty quickly.” Baxter, an experienced climber and hiker, says she can go from bottom to top in “39 minutes.”
Without a reservation, Baxter said, a lot of climbers use an alternate route that connects with the Incline. One last thing she advises is to arrive early to get one of the cash-only, $15 parking spots. There is also an “outer parking lot” that is free.
If the Incline is, perhaps, too daunting, consider ‘Plan B,’ says Manitou Springs Public Information Officer, Casandra Hessel. “We also have a lot of accessible trails,” said the Colorado Springs native. “The views,” she promises, “are breathtaking.”
Manitou, ‘the Great Spirit,’ and name given by Native Americans to the region is blessed with minerals that result from the snowpack that seeps into limestone. The naturally occurring symbiosis creates a carbonated and uniquely tasting water that centuries of people, from indigenous to curious modern-day tourists, believe holds healing powers. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
The town along with its waters made it an easy sell for tourists in the late 19th century when General William Palmer began its development. Palmer and businessman Jerome B. Wheeler pitched it as ‘the place’ to come to get well or, at least, better. Clean air, great water.
Today, tourism remains the economic lifeblood of the town. Visitors casually stroll the sidewalks, stopping periodically to sample any of the seven fountains, each with its own signage explaining the water’s minerals and unique taste.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists, from all fifty states and numerous international countries, are drawn to Manitou’s beauty.
The city, whose population holds steady at around 5,500, has something for everyone from the Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway to a birds-eye peek into the past and its Native American history.
But tourism, while essential to the town’s economic base, can also bring with it periodic congestion. Plan, plan and plan.
Manitou Springs has its own schools and police and fire departments. But El Paso County, said Hessel, is there to lend a hand. “We work together,” she said. Otherwise, the town’s “self-sustaining.”
The town and the county worked together when 2012’s Waldo Fire scorched acres of Colorado Springs and threatened Manitou Springs, as well. The town survived unscathed.
Justin Snyder and his wife co-own the town’s version of ‘Cheers,’ a restaurant where everyone knows your name.’ The Loft is “a breakfast-lunch spot…and we make everything fresh every day,” he said.
While restaurant competition is significant in Manitou Springs there are offerings for every taste. Pizza, beer and burgers, sandwiches, vegetarian, upscale, Mexican and traditional ‘Americana,’ are easy to find.
Snyder’s menu includes a ‘Lucy in the Sky’ and “Lucy in the Sea’ bagels or signature blueberry cinnamon rolls. You’ll leave happy.
While summer traffic is always high volume, locals, he said, keep his place and the others all around humming through the winter. Asked ‘what’s the secret?’ Snyder sums it up simply. “This is a community.”
