Twice as many visitors, compared to last year.
That is the sign that
Cheyenne Mountain State Park is at long last a success, said Dean Winstanley, director of
Colorado State Parks.
As number of people visiting the park jumped from 66,700 in 2008 to 151,100 in 2009.
“And I don’t think we’ve seen visitor numbers top out yet. The word is getting out still about that park,” he said.
The 1,680-acre collection of oak meadows and pine foothills southwest of Colorado Springs stumbled for years to get started. After purchasing the land in 2000, state park planners said it would take three years and $8.6 million to open. But the opening stalled as State Park officials decided to turn the park into a lavish money-making venture with $160-per-night rental cabins and a $4 million event center. Those plans collapsed in 2007 when Great Outdoors Colorado, the lottery-funded agency paying most of the bills, decided the park’s burgeoning amenities did not meet its mission of helping people enjoy the outdoors. Plans were scrapped for a more modest model. In November 2008, almost eight years more than $21 million after the park was purchased, it finally fully opened with trails and a campground, but no cabins or event center.
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Cheyenne Mountain State Park: undiscovered no more 
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