Flattened plastic bottles teetering on tree branches, mangled shopping carts, deflated makeshift tents and every kind of trash imaginable are found in secluded spots along Monument Creek.

Some, but not all the debris — which is part refuse, part personal belongings of those who live on the streets — is hidden from Monument Valley Park users.

“Hey, there’s a whole pile of needles,” a city of Colorado Springs cleanup crew worker calls out on Wednesday, during the third quarterly “coordinated cleanup.”

Another employee brings over a sharps container, and the pair carefully grab the dirty objects with long-armed pickers and place them in the disposal box.

Nine times out of 10, the spent hypodermic needles found in homeless encampments were used to shoot up methamphetamine or fentanyl, said

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