Key events in the history of The Colorado Trail

In his new position as Region 2 Forester for the U.S. Forest Service, Bill Lucas, with encouragement from the Roundup Riders of the Rockies and the Colorado Mountain Club, grasped the opportunity to push for the creation of a long-envisioned “Rocky Mountain Trail.”

See: The Colorado Trail Formative Years Remembered by Bill Lucas

Gudy Gaskill, chairwoman of the Colorado Mountain Club’s Huts and Trails Committee, joined Lucas in Washington, D.C., in speaking to the Volunteers in the National Forests Act of 1972, which was approved on May 18. The act became the framework for using volunteers to build The Colorado Trail.

See: Volunteers in the National Forests Act of 1972

Publisher Merrill Hastings becomes an advocate for the Trail and publishes the first feature article about it in his Colorado magazine. At a key meeting in November, concepts for the trail are discussed.

See: Article on Merrill Hastings thanks to Colorado Snowsports Museum

See: Merrill Hastings’ article in Colorado magazine, July-Aug. 1973

See: “Resume” (minutes) of trail brainstorming meeting, Nov. 16, 1973

1974 is considered the birth year of The Colorado Trail. Meetings focused on establishing the Trail began and the Colorado Mountain Trails Foundation (CMTF) was established. Gudy Gaskill was asked to help organize the effort and became executive director of the CMTF. Another feature article appeared in Colorado magazine.

See: 1974 article in Colorado magazine

A cooperative agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Mountain Trails Foundation is signed, creating a “unique partnership” to go forward with construction of The Colorado Trail. An article in Colorado magazine describes planners’ vision and ideas for the Trail.

See: 1976 article in Colorado magazine

Governor Dick Lamm (left) with USFS James Torrence (right) installing a trail sign at Twin Lakes.

The 1984 article, Trail To Nowhere, attracted the attention of one influential Coloradan, Governor Dick Lamm, who in 1985 threw the support of the Governor’s office behind the project. An ambitious schedule was devised for finishing and finally joining Denver to Durango via a trail. The resulting two-year plan, which was coordinated by the Forest Service, called for completing nearly 60 miles of trails through six forest districts during the 1986 and 1987 seasons, using primarily volunteer labor.

1986 volunteer trail crew at Hotel Draw between Silverton and Durango

The effort put forth in 1986 and 1987 by the volunteers was unprecedented. In 1986, some 400 volunteers labored in 20 trail crews building new tread. The following year, nearly a thousand volunteers happily took up their tools in 46 trail crews. The complicated logistics taxed the volunteer organizers, many of whom used their own vehicles to help the Forest Service supply and relocate base camps. Also challenged were the dedicated Forest Service liaisons who worked tirelessly alongside the volunteers.

President George H. W. Bush presents a Take Pride in America Award to The Colorado Trail Foundation for making The Colorado Trail a reality and a One Thousand Points of Light Award to Gudy Gaskill for leading the effort. The CTF also receives a Celebrate Colorado award from Governor Roy Romer. In 1987 as the end-to-end Trail connection was being made, Gaskill’s work was recognized by President Ronald Reagan with a Take Pride in America Award.

See: Presidential awards received for Trail success

The Official Colorado Trail Guidebook, first published in 1988, greatly helped Trail travelers. It detailed the entire Colorado Trail between Denver and Durango in chapters corresponding to each of the Trail segments. Trail maintenance and improvement work was ongoing. As the CT Foundation volunteers improved and changed the Trail routing, moving it off of roads and motorized routes, book revisions were authored and a new edition guidebook was published. Pages and maps in the first edition were black and white while subsequent editions gained full color maps and beautiful photographs. Each edition included an insightful recap of the Trail history leading up to 1987 when it was connected end-to-end.

See: An early edition CT Guidebook includes trail history

Jerry Brown, CTF volunteer trail surveyor beginning in 1999 and 2000, surveys The Colorado Trail.

Before 1999 and 2000, CT maps had all been hand drawn. With the advent of GPS, key CTF volunteers embarked on an ambitious, first GPS survey to map the CT with much better accuracy. The route was in the backcountry, though, and not a normal survey project. A plea for expert help was placed in the Tread Lines newsletter and professional surveyor and CT Completer, Jerry Brown, responded. A collaborative effort began. Jerry figured out the survey equipment for this unusual backcountry trip. With support from other CTF volunteers, he traveled the CT, biking and hiking, recording professional grade survey data all the way. (We think the CT was the first long distance trail to be mapped with survey-grade GPS, far superior to any consumer grade equipment at the time. What made it particularly valuable was the Trimble survey unit’s ability to log all the available satellite data at any given instant and then enable one to utilize software and post-process the information to select only the best data points.) The GPS trail survey project greatly helped improve the CT guides, benefitting trail travelers, and the improved maps contributed a lot to the organization’s trail stewardship operations.

See: 1999 Tread Lines newsletter article about the trail survey project