A new five-mile singletrack trail initially known as the “Toll Trail” and later renamed the “Kinglet” trail opened in late 2023 near Boulder, Colorado. Kinglet has been 18 years in the making: it was originally conceived in 2005 by Mike Barrow, a board member for the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance (BMA).
Riders have praised the flowy, well-built trail which runs through the mountains of Tolland Ranch thanks to a recreation easement. The 4,700-acre property is “the largest private property in the South Boulder Creek Watershed,” writes Jenna Sampson in a 2023 article in the Boulder Reporting Lab.
The Kinglet trail is a critical connection required to create the “Indian Peaks Traverse,” originally conceived of as a singletrack route from Boulder to Winter Park. Kinglet was intended to connect to the nearby Jenny Creek Trail in the Roosevelt National Forest, thereby completing an on-dirt crossing of the Continental Divide, connecting the towns of Nederland and Winter Park.
Unfortunately, the final 1,200-foot trail segment — known as “Segment A” — has yet to be built.
The many headwinds facing the Indian Peaks Traverse
The Indian Peaks Traverse was envisioned as a continuous 60-70-mile singletrack trail in the vein of the Colorado Trail stretching from Boulder to Winter Park. “The hope would be as much singletrack as possible, dirt as the next priority, and as few paved road sections as possible,” Wendy Sweet, Executive Director of the BMA, told Singletracks.
However, this grand vision has seen substantial opposition.
A group called the Indian Peaks Traverse Coalition had been advocating for this trail, particularly a 4-mile singletrack connection from Eldorado Canyon to Walker Ranch, which would form one of the first sections of the Indian Peaks Traverse on the Boulder side. However, in 2021, the Coalition and the BMA were informed that Colorado Parks & Wildlife “will not be adding the multi-use connection to the Eldo-Walker trail. Park operations cannot support building and maintaining a new segment of trail or increasing visitation for another recreational use causing exacerbated safety concerns on the congested park road.”
In a statement posted on their website, the BMA says they are “outraged at this shortsighted, unwise, anti-bike decision handed down by a land public land manager [sic] whose mandate is to ‘…provide enjoyable and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities that educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources.’
“To our members we say: We are NOT done with the fight for this critical and long-promised trail access in Boulder County – stay tuned as we regroup and plan our next steps to see this ‘The Colorado 16’ trail designed, built and open to mountain biking.”
The Coalition disbanded following the CPW’s decision against the Eldo-Walker trail, but the BMA copied all of the Coalition’s information onto their website.
Enter the Kinglet Trail and Segment A
Technically, riders can already complete the Indian Peaks Traverse route, but the vast majority of the route is currently on dirt roads. This includes a massive detour around most of the Tolland Ranch property via Tolland Road. However, the original vision was to complete a continuous singletrack route, and the Kinglet trail was a major step in crossing directly through Tolland Ranch.
Unfortunately, the Kinglet trail stops at the edge of the Tolland Ranch property, which is just 1,200 feet shy of reaching the Jenny Creek Trail, which leads to the Continental Divide. The missing connection, known as “Segment A,” will need to be constructed with permission from the US Forest Service (USFS), which has proceeded to drag its feet in reviewing the proposal.
According to a 2024 article by Brooke Stephenson in the Boulder Reporting Lab, “Boulder County contracted Sam Greenburg of Highline Earthworks to build the final section of trail. According to Greenburg, he spent last summer preparing contracts, planning to begin construction in spring 2024. But by fall 2023, the county had informed him the Forest Service had delayed project approval after raising concerns.”
The concerns raised by the USFS involve connecting a non-motorized trail (Kinglet) to a motorized trail (Jenny Creek) and “[exacerbating] any user conflicts between motorized use and non-motorized use by connecting a non-motorized trail into a road and motorized trail system,” Sampson quotes Forest Service spokesperson Reid Armstrong as saying. However, this claim by the USFS seems disingenuous, as there are literally hundreds of examples of non-motorized trails connecting with motorized trails and roads in national forests in Colorado. While the different user groups are understandably a consideration for how the connection is made, it’s far from being an insurmountable feat.
According to the USFS, other “higher priority” projects came up in 2024, delaying the Segment A project. However, “we have submitted the project for next year’s program of work, including monitoring, scoping and project proposal development, but it hasn’t been approved by Forest leadership yet,” said Armstrong.
If the USFS doesn’t build a trail, how long will it take for a social trail to form?
The Kinglet Trail connection to Jenny Creek was originally proposed due in part to unofficial social trails that had already made this critical connection. In order to dissuade trail users from following the unofficial trails, the Kinglet Trail will need to be successfully connected to Jenny Creek via Segment A. And if it isn’t connected soon, how long will it take for a new social trail to form?
According to Barrow, the goal behind Kinglet has always been to connect to Jenny Creek, and if it isn’t connected soon, a social trail is going to form sooner or later. “If anyone ever tries to tell you there was never an intention to connect to Jenny Creek trail that’s utter B.S.” said Barrow.
“It would be like if Boulder County built a road for cars and it ended like a quarter mile before the next turn,” said Sweet in Sampson’s 2023 article.
Next steps for the Indian Peaks Traverse
Massive trail projects of this scale are endlessly complex. This connection faces even more challenges, including the lack of legal access to Kinglet / Jenny Creek from Eldora.
In addition to completing Segment A, “it’s still a BMA priority to develop a more friendly climbing trail through West Mag, as was outlined in the Magnolia Trails Project,” Sweet told Singletracks. The primary climbing option to reach the Kinglet Trail is very steep and quite technical, whereas once riders reach Kinglet, the trail is flowy and smooth. Kinglet can also be accessed via a road climb and one additional connecting trail, which is intended primarily for downhill travel. While the Magnolia Trails Project has been stalled for the past three years, Sweet feels the winds of change blowing and is optimistic that they’ll be able to get the project moving again in the future.
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Oct 22, 2024