Residents of a Colorado mountain town are becoming frustrated with disrespectful, ‘leaf-peeping’ tourists who are blocking the roads making it nearly impossible for locals to get around.
One resident of Idaho Springs for eight years, Keturah Srot, said she’s ‘never seen roads like this’.
After planning a day trip to Canon City through Guanella Pass, she was stopped in her tracks after encountering the tourist traffic.
‘There were hundreds and hundreds of cars illegally parked on both sides of the road,’ she told KDVR.
‘There were hundreds and hundreds of cars illegally parked on both sides of the road,’ said Keturah Srot
‘Tree-peeping’ tourists travelling into a Colorado mountain town visit to see the trees that have changed into their fall colors
Srot has said she had ‘never seen roads like this’ as tourists’ cars were parked blocking the roads and causing traffic jams along a Colorado mountain town
The Park County Sheriff’s Office took a video in a separate area that was suffering the same issues as on Guanella Pass.
Srot said they couldn’t drive any further and managed to turn back around.
‘We lost two and a half hours, and we ended up having to cancel our plans for the day,’ she added.
Aside from the heavy traffic, her frustrations lie mostly with the cars parked blocking roadways.
‘Nobody would be encountering the kind of headlock or gridlock had people not been parking there,’ she said.
‘The road was backed up and jammed all the way from Kenosha Pass to the exit for Safeway in Conifer on Friday morning heading westbound… It’s bad bad,’ said a commentor on a Park Country Sheriff’s
‘Nobody would be encountering the kind of headlock or gridlock had people not been parking there,’ Srot said
The Park County Sheriff’s Office shared a Facebook post about the traffic caused from tourists.
One resident commented: ‘Today was absolutely insane. I understand the want to admire and enjoy scenery… However, it’s not fair or tolerable for locals. We all need to find a positive result for everyone.’
Another user also wrote: ‘The road was backed up and jammed all the way from Kenosha Pass to the exit for Safeway in Conifer on Friday morning heading westbound… It’s bad bad.’
One said it took her five and a half hours to get to loaf n jug from Blackhawk, ‘It took over two hours to go one mile.’
Another brought the attention to cars parked along Guanella on both sides ‘of an already narrow road’, facing opposite directions, and making it impossible for traffic to go both directions.
‘It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it! So many side mirrors were busted off as well,’ they added.
To which the PC Sheriff’s Office responded that they were working on the issue.
Srot also worries that emergency services will be unable to reach people quickly because of the traffic and road blocking.
She hopes visitors who continue to come and see the leaves are respectful and only stop in designated areas.
‘It just makes locals have a lot of road rage and anger and we don’t want to see tourists anymore,’ she said.
