DENVER -- Earlier this month, the Forest Service announced it is considering its first fee for hiking and camping near 14ers. Under the plan, the Forest Service would charge $10 per person for hiking and $20 to camp in the heavily used South Colony Basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

"What we're trying to do is keep pace with the amount of usage this area gets, with 4,500 people visiting a really concentrated area every year," said Janelle Smith, a spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service.

Hikers can access four 14ers from the South Colony Basin: Humboldt Peak, Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle and Kit Carson Peak.

Now, Rocky Mountain National Park is considering a fee to visit the Longs Peak area. However, the Longs Peak fee wouldn't be a fee to climb the mountain, it would be the standard entrance fee charged elsewhere in the park.

Even though Longs Peak is part of Rocky Mountain National Park, there is no entrance fee station, meaning visitor's don't have to pay the entrance fee to hike the trails in the area. The entrance fee is $20 per vehicle at the entrance stations.

Under a plan being developed to improve the Longs Peak area, park officials may build a pay station at the Longs Peak entrance, according to the Fort Collins Coloradan newspaper.

"We would need to determine the cost of collection versus projected revenue," park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson told the newspaper. "Most people begin their climb of Longs Peak in the pre-dawn hours, so we would have to staff the entrance station at different hours."

Some climbers said the new fees are a slippery slope, and they are concerned more peaks will be pay-to-play.

"I think in an economy like this, the government is being a little greedy and hitting people where they expect to have some free family entertainment," said climber Mike Selka.

Read more about the plan to charge a hiking fee at South Colony Basin here.