Legacy Trails Program Awardee

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

With support from the Legacy Trail Grant program, CDTC will complete three projects that will take place along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail in Colorado and New Mexico. These projects will mitigate trail erosion and address maintenance issues that negatively impact watershed health. In Colorado, CDTC will complete two projects in partnership with the Headwaters Trail Alliance. These projects will take place at Rollins Pass and on High Lonesome, which will address erosion and complete two bridge projects, respectively. The project at High Lonesome will include fully replacing two existing bridges that are 15 feet in length and have rotting planks and sinking foundations, posing hazards to trail users as well as negatively impacting watershed health. The project at the Rollins Pass will include improving a large trailhead parking area that has fallen victim to significant resource damage after several decades of high visitation.

Applicant: Continental Divide Trail Coalition
Project Location: Sulphur Ranger District, Arapaho and Carson National Forests, Colorado and New Mexico
Amount Awarded: $38,200.00

The trailhead is popular amongst motorized trail users looking to drive to the top of the Continental Divide, but also day-hikers, through-hikers on the greater CDT, and history buffs. The trailhead is located above treeline and is surrounded by delicate high-alpine tundra. In recent years there has been significant damage to the surrounding tundra due to motorized users driving/parking past the road boundary, hikers leaving the trail creating social trails from the parking area, and an abundance of trash. In order to protect this area and improve user experience on the CDT, the entire parking area needs to be delineated with 700 feet of buck and rail fencing, and social paths leading from the parking area removed.

Both of the proposed Colorado projects will take place in July 2023, over the course of two to three days each, and will occur on weekends to enhance accessibility to potential volunteers. These projects will be in partnership with the Sulphur Ranger District in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest and with Headwaters Trails Alliance in Grand County. Volunteers will arrive on a Friday evening and work full eight hour days on Saturday and Sunday on these projects. Partners will include staff from Headwaters Trail Alliance, a long time partner of CDTC. CDTC and Headwaters Trail Alliance regularly partner for trail projects in Grand County, including hosting several annual events in the designated CDT Gateway Community of Grand Lake, Colorado.

In New Mexico, CDTC will conduct significant work in Martinez Canyon to address trail erosion issues due to the trail’s location which negatively impacts the local watershed. The proposed New Mexico Project will take place over the course of one week in September or October 2023. Partners for this project will include the Chama Outdoor Club, who CDTC partners with frequently for events in the CDT Gateway Community of Chama, New Mexico. The proposed project in New Mexico will also include a full crew from the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, an Indigenous Conservation Corps that has done extensive work along the CDT, as well as having partnered with CDTC to host an Indigenous Youth Hiking Group along the CDT in New Mexico.

All three of these projects will result in improving nearly 40 miles of the CDT and improving watershed health to the adjacent streams and rivers, and all of the projects will be completed with considerable involvement from local volunteers and organizations. The projects focused on erosion will contribute to a safer environment for recreationists hiking or riding on the CDT. In addition, these projects will limit damage to the surrounding environment associated with trampled vegetation and aquatic habitats, contributing positively to local watershed health by surrounding wetlands.