A timed reservation system is poised to continue at a Colorado state park.

Officials at Eldorado Canyon State Park outside Boulder have asked the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to extend the pilot program that is underway for a first full summer.

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Since May and continuing into September, visitors on weekends and holidays are required to reserve a timed entry slot into the steep, narrow canyon that has reportedly been overwhelmed in recent years.

In a presentation to commissioners, park ranger Lisa Gill said Eldorado Canyon’s 205 parking spots had been quick to fill prior to the reservation system, with some drivers turning back to park on private property in neighboring Eldorado Springs and walk in. Between 2016 and 2021, Gill said, visitation had increased 90% to about 530,000 people a year funneling into the park’s tight confines.

In partnership with Boulder County, a shuttle launched in 2020. That was “unsuccessful as a sole management strategy,” according to Gill’s presentation.

“Ridership was low while visitation and pressure on the state park continued,” she said.

Hence the timed entry reservation system. With feedback from a partial rollout in 2022 and more surveying this summer, Gill described the regime as an overall success.

She called it “a positive impact in reducing vehicle congestion, improving visitor experience and safety, alleviating community concerns and pressure on the state park’s natural resources and facilities, and reducing staff burnout.”

Gill said negative feedback has lingered on people unaware of required reservations on weekends and having trouble navigating cpwshop.com. Another year of the system would give officials more time to address those concerns, she said, as well as a 17% no-show rate rangers have tracked – people taking up reservation spots and not arriving. 

Park Manager John Carson told commissioners: “The no-show rate is something that we are looking into, and trying to be adaptive in the management of this system is what we anticipate with an additional year of opportunity.”

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