In late October, the US Forest Service officially completed the Cutthroat Trail, “the first and only e-bike system trail on the San Juan National Forest,” according to a video from the San Juan National Forest. The Cutthroat Trail is a 6.2-mile singletrack trail that parallels Hermosa Park Road, effectively connecting the trail system at Purgatory Resort with the renowned Hermosa Creek trail located outside of Durango, CO. It can also extend the Hermosa Creek route for riders completing the trail as a shuttle.
While e-bikes are allowed on motorized singletrack trails in the San Juan National Forest — like nearby Hermosa Creek — Cutthroat is the first trail specifically designed for e-bikes that does not fully motorized dirt bikes. “This trail plays into quite a large system of e-bike available trails,” said District Ranger Nick Glidden. “The San Juan and our partners are really excited about the access Cutthroat Trail provides.”
Fantastic e-bike access in the Hermosa Creek SMA gets even better.
This “large system” of e-bike legal trails lies in the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area (SMA), which sits between US Highway 550 and the Hermosa Creek Wilderness. Both the Wilderness Area and the SMA were designated by an act of Congress in 2014. This special designation has created one of the most convoluted sets of trail access rules in a national forest. To explain these rules, a massive kiosk has been constructed at the entrance to the SMA near the boundary of Purgatory Resort. The kiosk features multiple panels, listing each trail individually, which uses are allowed on said trail, and at which times of the year. Some of the trails in the SMA have seasonal closures, while others technically do not — or are closed at entirely different times.
The net-net for trail users who can interpret the signs is that the SMA is home to some of the best moto-legal singletrack trails in the San Juan National Forest — almost all of which are fantastic even on a muscle-powered bicycle. This network of trails has made the SMA a local destination for e-bikers, and the addition of this vital singletrack connection makes the riding opportunities —whether with an electric motor or without — even better.
Development of the Cutthroat Trail — a win for both recreation and conservation.
The Cutthroat Trail is a win for both recreation and conservation. The four-phase planning and construction began in 2017 when it was identified “as a critical realignment project to increase watershed and habitat resiliency for cutthroat trout while improving access to the Hermosa Park valley,” according to a press release from the San Juan National Forest. Construction on the trail culminated in late 2024.
“During construction, the Columbine District began to rethink the planned layout for how the trail would cross Sig and Relay Creeks to best prevent sedimentation in the waterways,” wrote the San Juan NF. “In the meantime, planning was underway to replace old culverts on Hermosa Park road with Aquatic Organism Passages (AOPs) that would mimic natural stream systems and allow the native cutthroat trout population to expand its reach. Engineers, recreation planners, and wildlife managers on the San Juan realized that the least impactful and most cost-effective stream crossings for the Cutthroat Trail would be to combine them with the AOP vehicle crossings, which were completed in September, 2024.”
The AOPs are wide and shallow, allowing the stream to flow unimpeded so cutthroat trout can swim through easily. “These structures connect to habitat upstream for cutthroat trout that was previously blocked, and reduces the impact of additional stream crossings,” said the USFS in a video.
The construction of Cutthroat required a massive partnership between many local agencies and entities. Initial funding for the project came from the San Juan Stewardship Fund, which “began as a partnership between Purgatory Resort, the National Forest Foundation, and the San Juan National Forest,” according to the release. Other organizations involved in the project include San Juan NF’s Columbine District trail crew, Cottonwood Consulting, Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC), Medved Global, Durango Trails, Trout Unlimited, Yeti Coolers, Hermosa Tours, and the Catena Foundation.
Getting a taste of Cutthroat
The first (and so far, only) time that I’ve ridden the Hermosa Creek trail was via a shuttle from Hermosa Tours in 2020. At that time, the shuttle dropped off on top of a hill above Hermosa Park, and riders coasted down the Hermosa Park gravel road to reach the entrance to the 19-mile point-to-point Hermosa Creek Trail. Now, riders will have the option to cover that distance on an additional 6.2 miles of singletrack filled with beautiful views and superb trail instead of losing elevation on a gravel road.
As a local Durango resident, I’ve had the opportunity to ride the Cutthroat Trail when each half was opened, in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and in my experience, the finished product of this trail is quite… interesting. It’s clear where time and money were invested in crafting a high-quality trail tread… and where it wasn’t. In several locations, the trail cuts across a grassy field, and it appears the weeds were cut down and the trail tread simply raked in, with minimal work done to improve the flow of the trail. However, this entire area is open to cattle grazing, and their stomping hooves routinely pockmark these sections of trail. It’s clear that investing money in a flowy machine-built trail through these open zones would be folly.
Where the trail drops into the woods, the quality of the build increases substantially. As the trail swoops and flows downhill, every corner features a berm (albeit fairly small ones) to allow riders to carry speed.
One notable section of trail traverses a steep hillside, winding its way below a small cliff band, crossing a stream, and then working its way out of a narrow gorge. Here the trail construction is superb, and the combination of beautiful cliff faces, a rushing stream, and well-built trail tread is truly stunning.
At several points along the Cutthroat Trail, the route swings out to the top of a small cliff band that separates the trail from Hermosa Park Road below. From these elevated viewpoints, riders can enjoy spectacular vistas of Hermosa Park spread out below and a towering mountain ridge in the distance, which is the backside of Purgatory Ski Resort. During the fall, aspens light up the ridge with glowing gold interspersed in the dark green of evergreen trees.
The decision to utilize the two AOPs installed beneath the road grade does make sense, but it also adds a fair bit of climbing to Cutthroat — particularly at Sig Creek Campground, located about halfway through the trail. Here, the singletrack descends off the cliff band to pass below the campground, crossing the stream via the AOP beneath the roadbed. The trail then turns around and heads straight back uphill to the top of the cliff band for more traversing before finally descending, crossing the road, and heading down to the Hermosa Creek trailhead. The crossing at Sig Creek is beautifully separated from traffic thanks to a series of boulders placed on the road grade, but this descent and climb make for a bit more aerobic work than some non-e-bike riders may deem appropriate.
This 6.2-mile trail could have descended almost its entire length to the Hermosa Creek Trail, yet the finished route climbs ~700 feet along its length (from east to west), while losing ~1,630 vertical feet. It could have been a 900 vertical foot descent with next to no climbing, but instead, it’s a fairly punchy up-and-down. Of course, since this trail was designed for e-bikers, a meager 700 feet of climbing is barely noticeable with the added power of a motor.
Small gripes aside, it’s fantastic to see the San Juan National Forest establish a brand-new singletrack trail of this length. In this day and age, it’s rare to see the USFS construct all-new trails, as they’re woefully underfunded and extremely backlogged on trail maintenance. Hats off to the San Juan NF for this fantastic addition!
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