Trinidad, CO, is a small town of 8,300 people located just north of the New Mexico border. For decades, it has survived boom and bust economies. Now, it’s poised to become Colorado’s next great mountain bike destination thanks to new trails in Fishers Peak State Park.
To find out more, Singletracks spoke with Jenn Green with the Trinidad Trails Alliance, an all-volunteer non-profit organization that supports sustainable outdoor recreation in Trinidad; Joe Kozlowicz and Dave Kurian, the co-owners of Tarantula Cycles; and Tony Boone, a trail builder, planner, and designer for over 40 years and the owner of Tony Boone Trails.
Historically, riders had limited options for mountain biking in Trinidad.
Like many areas in the western United States, Trinidad was surrounded by private land off limits to the public, including Fishers Peak, a 9,600-foot-tall mesa that is the highest point of land east of the Rockies.
That left local riders with few options. Kozlowicz told Singletracks that the main type of riding in Trinidad is gravel. The town is home to the annual Rad Dirt Fest and the Pony Xpress Gravel 160 gravel races.
For mountain bikers, Kozlowicz said there were previously only a few miles of existing trails scattered across three sections of town with no connectivity between them. Kurian said that locals had to drive one to two hours from town to ride a substantial amount of singletrack, in places like Angel Fire Bike Park, Lake Pueblo State Park, and Cuchara.
That changed when the State of Colorado created Fishers Peak State Park.
Then, in 2019, The City of Trinidad collaborated with the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, Great Outdoors Colorado, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to purchase a 19,000-acre ranch that included Fishers Peak. CPW took over the property a year later, making it Fishers Peak State Park.
From Kozlowicz’s perspective, the new park brought a new opportunity to create world-class mountain bike trails on an iconic landmark. As Green described it, locals “were overwhelmed with a new sense of opportunity.”
But mountain bikers were just one of several groups eager to use the newly acquired land. Conservationists, equestrians, hikers, hunters, and local tribes all had a vested interest in Fishers Peak State Park. To balance these different interests, a master planning team was formed.
The master planning team created a comprehensive plan for Fishers Peak State Park that included building trails specifically designed for mountain bikers.
Over a two-year period, representatives from different stakeholders and working groups were led by the master planning team of THK & Associates to create the Fishers Peak State Park Master Plan. Boone was part of the master planning team. He told Singletracks that, when it came to creating trails for the park, the team wanted each user group (primarily hikers, bikers, and equestrians) “to have a unique, user-optimized experience.”
Additionally, the team focused on minimizing potential conflicts between user groups. Kozlowicz told Singletracks that the plan allows for equestrians to have their own trails and trailhead to keep them separated from bikes.
To help conserve and protect the local wildlife that inhabits the land around the peak, the team included a habitat sensitivity analysis to guide trail building in a way that minimizes impact to plants and animals.
The 188-page master plan was finalized in October, 2022. It has something for every user group, while being sensitive to local wildlife and respecting the indigenous people who have had a presence there long before white men arrived.
The trails that have been built so far are part of 85-100 miles of proposed trails, many of which will be open to bikers.
Currently, 16 miles of trails have been built within the park. One trail, the Poison Canyon trail, is a 1.7-mile downhill-only mountain bike trail. Two other trails, and a portion of a third trail, are multi-use trails open to riders.
Kurian, who was part of the work crew that built the first trails, said that the Poison Canyon trail included features like tabletops and berms, which were absent from the existing trails in Trinidad. “The trail was built and designed by skilled mountain bikers and is fun and flowy from top to bottom.”
Kurian also told Singletracks that building the trails was a difficult process. “It’s a huge undertaking to get crew, tools, and supplies from the bottom to the top, and it only got more challenging the higher up we got.” Kurian said the trails were largely machine-built and take users through varying topography, from arid pinon and juniper forests at the bottom to serene, loamy pine forests towards the top. Singletrack Trails out of Grand Junction, CO, was contracted for the portions of trail that have been professionally built thus far.
Kozlowicz said work will soon begin on another stacked loop of trails near the top of the peak, which will add an additional 6-8 miles of trail in 2025, and that a mountain bike skills course is also featured in the master plan. Kozlowicz said the park was being very progressive by building mountain bike trails.
Additionally, there are other planned enhancements that will help Trinidad become an outdoor recreation destination.
Green said that the overall strategy is that, as more trails are developed and opened in Fishers Peak State Park, they will be enhanced with other opportunities to help Trinidad become an outdoor recreation destination. One of those opportunities will be connectivity between the town and the park, as well as other local trails in the area.
Kozlowicz mentioned that the city plans to build a multi-use path from downtown Trinidad to Fishers Peak State Park. Green said the city of Trinidad, in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Transportation, included park connectivity as part of a 2022 traffic study. She also told Singletracks that the city is committed to developing the Old Sopris Trail, connecting downtown to Trinidad Lake State Park.
The state park has created new opportunities for residents in Trinidad.
Now that Fishers Peak State Park is open, Trinidad residents have access to an incredible landmark. “It’s such an iconic site,” Kozlowicz said. “To think that I can jump on my bike and ride to it is really satisfying.”
Green said that the Trinidad community has a deep level of appreciation for the park because outdoor recreation in the region has been historically limited due to a lack of public lands. “Everybody’s in on it.”
Kurian, who moved to Trinidad from Madison, WI, a few years ago because of its potential, has been encouraged by what he has seen out on the new trails so far. “I’m seeing locals adopting the sport [of mountain biking]. Parents and kids are out there riding together, as well as older people.”
But the park’s development is bound to attract outside interest as well. Kurian has begun seeing out-of-state license plates in the park recently, likely due to its easy access from I-25. As more trails are built and amenities are added to the park and surrounding area, Trinidad is sure to see more out-of-state visitors, and that’ll be a big win for its economy.
