Sometime soon after New Year’s, colorful ribbons were seen tied around trees and posts on Rainbow Mountain, leaving many local hikers curious about who had put them there and why. When asked about it this past Sunday, many who were outside enjoying the trails had different theories about the mysterious ribbons.

Vincent Jones, on a visit from Canada said, “The ribbons are probably for emergency purposes, to keep people from getting lost.” His friend, local resident Miles Thomas felt that the ribbons were a form of pollution, saying that “people are terrible.” One Bob Jones student, Ryan Travis, even speculated that the ribbons “could be from gang wars.”

Another local resident, Chris Cornelius, noted that the ribbons were near a post that read “easement” which denotes the governments’ imminent domain such as for sewage and other necessities before building. He said that it was likely that someone or the government had bought the land for their usage, saying that “money does what it wants.”

After Chris Cornelius’s observation, Madison’s Parks and Recreation Director, Kory Alfred, was consulted about the ribbons, and he said, “I believe they are marking for an E911 tower.” He also said that the location for the tower had been picked because the mountain’s height made for optimal signal strength and suggested further questions be directed at the E911 board, also known as the Madison County Communications District Board. An E911 tower would give emergency services an estimate of a callers location as well as their callback number, according to cellular news.

Unfortunately however, Harold Potts, the chair of the E911 board was unable to be consulted as he was in the hospital.  So for now, with the mystery of why there were colorful ribbons on Rainbow Mountain solved, there are still more questions left behind. It remains unknown to Madison residents how long the building of this tower is expected to take or how it will affect the availability of their hiking trails.