Up U.S. 24 approaching Woodland Park, drivers who know where to look will spot a patch of reddish rock in the green hills. It’s the site of an old mining claim and scenic escape where locals in-the-know have long hiked and biked despite the property being private.

Chris Gonzales has recently introduced some unaware people to that place. Now they know where to look when they’re driving into town.

“They’re like, Wow, we don’t make that drive up 24 the same anymore,” Gonzales said. “Now when we drive up, we think very fondly about that vs. not thinking about it whatsoever.”

The admiration might further spread if a plan comes together.

Pending a significant grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, Woodland Park’s City Council recently unanimously agreed to purchase the 120 acres of aspen, pine and rolling meadows and maintain the land in perpetuity.

It’s being called Avenger Open Space — “a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Jeff Webb, the city parks board chairman, told councilors in the meeting.

It would be “the first large open space and wild open space the city holds of this nature,” said Gonzales, who sits on the city’s parks board and last year founded Teller Trail Team.

He formed the organization in the vision of a “task force” mentioned in Woodland Park’s parks, recreation, trails and open space master plan. That was published in 2023 to be a “bold” guiding document for the city’s future outdoor prospects.

The task force, the plan said, would “guide trail network development through advocacy, fundraising, maintenance and easement acquisition.” A survey found 83% of respondents wanted more natural surface trails around town; the master plan lists 4.6 miles of dirt and paved trails owned by the city, spread across 62 acres of open space and greenways.

The limitations are obvious, Gonzales said: Woodland Park is “essentially landlocked by national forest.” That’s a benefit, he said. But that has resulted in user-made, unsanctioned trails being formed and loved by locals over the years — up for possible closure by the U.S. Forest Service at any time, Gonzales has observed.

“But even more concerning is a lot of our favorite trails run through private property,” he said.

“So I kind of saw the writing on the wall and realized, there’s a chance most of what we use in our area could get shut down in a moment’s notice. … We need to have these conversations now, not when we’re in the heat of a moment when something gets shut down.”

Enter Avenger Open Space, well-traveled by people who have accessed from the adjacent, city-owned Paradise Open Space. Since hearing about the landowner putting the 120 acres up for sale, Gonzales has worked behind the scenes on a deal that would hinge on Great Outdoors Colorado.

“Now we have to sit on our hands and wait until March,” Gonzales said.

He said that is when city leadership would learn the fate of a GOCO grant application for $523,000.

The acquisition would count on the city putting up $150,000 and another $80,000 in fundraising. Parks Director Cindy Keating has told City Council she feels confident in both the grant and donations coming through; commitments totalled close to $50,000 so far, she said.

That speaks to the love of the 120 acres, what Gonzales praised for “unmatched views of Pikes Peak” and “unparalleled for merging easy access with a wild experience.”

Another parks board member, Jerry Smith, called himself an “avid hiker” frequenting Craigs Trail, a classic in Teller County, and open spaces in Colorado Springs and beyond to the Colorado Trail.

“I’ve been on a lot of trails,” he said, “but if I had to go out on a hike, Avenger Open Space is far and away my favorite place to go.”

In Woodland Park and across Teller County, money for such properties is the big question, Gonzales recognized.

Unlike Colorado Springs and other Front Range governments with programs collecting sales tax revenues to use toward parks and open spaces, the municipalities lack such a funding mechanism. Keating said she estimated upkeep at Avenger Open Space could cost $38,000 a year.

While not endorsing any sort of tax initiative, Gonzales said he liked to think of the open space “ushering Woodland Park into a new era. … This is a chance for Woodland Park to start to step into that sort of world and preserve a new type of access and experience for the community.”