Gifts from Colorado’s outdoors: 11 new trails, open spaces and happenings celebrated in 2022
Christmas gifts only come once a year. But gifts across Colorado’s great outdoors come year-round.
Here, we reflect on developments around the Front Range and beyond that brought joy to enthusiasts — and will bring joy for many years to come.
Anemone Trail
Not long into 2022, after more than two years of stone-intensive construction, Boulder officials announced completing this 3-plus mile loop skirting a recognizable hill west of town. That was to the delight of a trail-loving community that knows it needs to spread people out. Here’s a new option at an ideal location, close to downtown but feeling farther, tucked between the wild beauty of Mount Sanitas and Boulder Canyon. Overlooks lead to views of the Indian Peaks and an up-close encounter with the sandstone formation called Red Rocks.
Electric Hills trails
With a major grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife this year, mountain biking aficionados in western Colorado got a lot closer to their dream for a rugged swath fit for more than just power towers.
In 2021, about 4 miles of singletrack were carved in the hills near Montrose.
That more than doubled in 2022, advocates say. They ended the building season by reporting 62% of the 17-mile vision complete.
El Paso County open spaces
In two months in 2022, two very different open spaces debuted in El Paso County. First, far south near Fountain, the 495-acre Kane Ranch Open Space opened, with a 3.75-mile trail looping the prairie that looks out to the Sangre de Cristo peaks. Then, to the county’s far north in Palmer Lake, officials cut the ribbon on Santa Fe Open Space, which offers something more like a wooded, backcountry retreat. Off the Santa Fe Regional trail, a stacked loop system covers about 2 miles.
Fishers Peak State Park trails
For anyone expecting slow development at Colorado’s second-biggest state park, established in 2019, word of 11 miles of new trail came as a surprise. People in Trinidad who’ve waited generations to realize the top of their iconic summit will have to continue waiting — though, it seems, not much longer. In the meantime, they can hike, bike and ride horses on the network reaching toward Fishers Peak’s uppermost rims. Osita Point has become its own scenic destination.
Hanging Lake reopens
There was doubt the trail to one of Colorado’s most photographed scenes would reopen in 2022. It was closed in the wake of a 2020 wildfire that caused debris flow and damage to the footpath corridor. So hikers near and far rejoiced at the surprise announcement this summer. That came with a warning: The corridor was still susceptible to debris and danger during storms. Over the next several years, land managers are looking to design and build a trail “that won’t have the same sort of potential impacts from Mother Nature,” a Forest Service spokesperson told us.
Ouray Ice Park expanding
The future is bright at this southwest Colorado attraction beloved by ice climbers worldwide. That’s after a water court greenlit a transfer of supply much more dependable than Ouray’s municipal tank. The new water will allow for many more ice curtains and daggers to be formed across the Uncompahgre Gorge, operators say. Climbers “can expect more routes, fatter ice and hopefully less crowding,” said Peter O’Neil, an organizer. “We’ll have more terrain to spread climbers throughout the park.”
Rito Seco trails
It’s about time Colorado’s oldest town got some professionally designed and constructed trails. The ones lining both sides of the canyon called Rito Seco near San Luis represented a first, said native and advocate Shirley Romero Otero, who has a heart for Costilla County’s kids living in poverty. She has led local youth retreats to Crested Butte, “where the rich go,” she told us. Now, “it’s like, ‘Wow, we have a little piece of that in our backyard.’” The 8 miles of trail for hiking and biking converge at a high meadow.
Royal Cascade Trail
In more than a decade of revolutionizing the trail scene around Cañon City, this was one of Fremont Adventure Recreation’s proudest accomplishments. “I need a thesaurus to really explain how pretty that trail is,” the group’s Ashlee Sack told us. “It’s an assault on the senses.” It overwhelms physically, too — switchbacking 3.6 miles and gaining 1,800 feet between Tunnel Drive and Royal Gorge Park.
Shur View property acquisition
In northeast Colorado, one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, conservationists saw this as a huge win. The 978-acre property entering the public trust was the culmination of a decades-long, multiagency effort to buy what was seen as one of the last large parcels of land suited for public enjoyment and habitat protection. The Poudre River-cut mosaic of bluffs and rolling grassland doubles the city of Greeley’s open space portfolio. Now officials will work to develop what they foresee as a “recreation hub” of trails.
New way to explore Staunton State Park
Who knew a parking lot could be exciting? Well, it wasn’t so much the new Lazy V lot that got people excited as much as it was the opportunities it granted at this state park in Pine, southwest of Denver. The round trip to Staunton’s premier destination, Elk Falls, can now be done in 8 miles, down 4 miles from the other route. And now, rather than hiking for an hour or so, climbers have a fast track to Staunton Rocks.
Sweetwater Canyon trails
At one of Colorado Springs’ most beloved mountain preserves, these trails represented the biggest, most anticipated addition in recent memory. Over the summer, many realized the new, western boundaries of North Cheyenne Cañon Park for the first time. We found runners and mountain bikers on the 6 1/2 miles of trail weaving through the forest, some referring to the system as a “gem” and “game-changer” for tacking on bigger loops. A short spur offers an alternate route to the park’s highest point, Mount Muscoco.
Gifts from Colorado’s outdoors: 11 new trails, open spaces and happenings celebrated in 2022
Christmas gifts only come once a year. But gifts across Colorado’s great outdoors come year-round.
Here, we reflect on developments around the Front Range and beyond that brought joy to enthusiasts — and will bring joy for many years to come.
Anemone Trail
Not long into 2022, after more than two years of stone-intensive construction, Boulder officials announced completing this 3-plus mile loop skirting a recognizable hill west of town. That was to the delight of a trail-loving community that knows it needs to spread people out. Here’s a new option at an ideal location, close to downtown but feeling farther, tucked between the wild beauty of Mount Sanitas and Boulder Canyon. Overlooks lead to views of the Indian Peaks and an up-close encounter with the sandstone formation called Red Rocks.
Electric Hills trails
With a major grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife this year, mountain biking aficionados in western Colorado got a lot closer to their dream for a rugged swath fit for more than just power towers.
In 2021, about 4 miles of singletrack were carved in the hills near Montrose.
That more than doubled in 2022, advocates say. They ended the building season by reporting 62% of the 17-mile vision complete.
El Paso County open spaces
In two months in 2022, two very different open spaces debuted in El Paso County. First, far south near Fountain, the 495-acre Kane Ranch Open Space opened, with a 3.75-mile trail looping the prairie that looks out to the Sangre de Cristo peaks. Then, to the county’s far north in Palmer Lake, officials cut the ribbon on Santa Fe Open Space, which offers something more like a wooded, backcountry retreat. Off the Santa Fe Regional trail, a stacked loop system covers about 2 miles.
Fishers Peak State Park trails
For anyone expecting slow development at Colorado’s second-biggest state park, established in 2019, word of 11 miles of new trail came as a surprise. People in Trinidad who’ve waited generations to realize the top of their iconic summit will have to continue waiting — though, it seems, not much longer. In the meantime, they can hike, bike and ride horses on the network reaching toward Fishers Peak’s uppermost rims. Osita Point has become its own scenic destination.
Hanging Lake reopens
There was doubt the trail to one of Colorado’s most photographed scenes would reopen in 2022. It was closed in the wake of a 2020 wildfire that caused debris flow and damage to the footpath corridor. So hikers near and far rejoiced at the surprise announcement this summer. That came with a warning: The corridor was still susceptible to debris and danger during storms. Over the next several years, land managers are looking to design and build a trail “that won’t have the same sort of potential impacts from Mother Nature,” a Forest Service spokesperson told us.
Ouray Ice Park expanding
The future is bright at this southwest Colorado attraction beloved by ice climbers worldwide. That’s after a water court greenlit a transfer of supply much more dependable than Ouray’s municipal tank. The new water will allow for many more ice curtains and daggers to be formed across the Uncompahgre Gorge, operators say. Climbers “can expect more routes, fatter ice and hopefully less crowding,” said Peter O’Neil, an organizer. “We’ll have more terrain to spread climbers throughout the park.”
Rito Seco trails
It’s about time Colorado’s oldest town got some professionally designed and constructed trails. The ones lining both sides of the canyon called Rito Seco near San Luis represented a first, said native and advocate Shirley Romero Otero, who has a heart for Costilla County’s kids living in poverty. She has led local youth retreats to Crested Butte, “where the rich go,” she told us. Now, “it’s like, ‘Wow, we have a little piece of that in our backyard.’” The 8 miles of trail for hiking and biking converge at a high meadow.
Royal Cascade Trail
In more than a decade of revolutionizing the trail scene around Cañon City, this was one of Fremont Adventure Recreation’s proudest accomplishments. “I need a thesaurus to really explain how pretty that trail is,” the group’s Ashlee Sack told us. “It’s an assault on the senses.” It overwhelms physically, too — switchbacking 3.6 miles and gaining 1,800 feet between Tunnel Drive and Royal Gorge Park.
Shur View property acquisition
In northeast Colorado, one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, conservationists saw this as a huge win. The 978-acre property entering the public trust was the culmination of a decades-long, multiagency effort to buy what was seen as one of the last large parcels of land suited for public enjoyment and habitat protection. The Poudre River-cut mosaic of bluffs and rolling grassland doubles the city of Greeley’s open space portfolio. Now officials will work to develop what they foresee as a “recreation hub” of trails.
New way to explore Staunton State Park
Who knew a parking lot could be exciting? Well, it wasn’t so much the new Lazy V lot that got people excited as much as it was the opportunities it granted at this state park in Pine, southwest of Denver. The round trip to Staunton’s premier destination, Elk Falls, can now be done in 8 miles, down 4 miles from the other route. And now, rather than hiking for an hour or so, climbers have a fast track to Staunton Rocks.
Sweetwater Canyon trails
At one of Colorado Springs’ most beloved mountain preserves, these trails represented the biggest, most anticipated addition in recent memory. Over the summer, many realized the new, western boundaries of North Cheyenne Cañon Park for the first time. We found runners and mountain bikers on the 6 1/2 miles of trail weaving through the forest, some referring to the system as a “gem” and “game-changer” for tacking on bigger loops. A short spur offers an alternate route to the park’s highest point, Mount Muscoco.
