Trail Use Task Force Asks for New Input from Hikers and Other Users

As an outcome of the May 20, 2004 Trails Use Task Force Meeting, Eric Finstick is organizing the hiker meeting. It will be on August 26 at 7PM, at the Mountaineering Center in Golden, in the Baker Room on the 2^nd floor. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to attend.

The Trail Use Task Force has been meeting at least annually since 1995. It is made up of interested hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Technically, there are 3 representatives of each, and 3 alternates, but anyone may attend.

At each meeting, Open Space staff gives an update of trails projects, both natural surface and paved trails. For example, they are currently working on trails in the relatively newly acquired Centennial Cone property, and the Clear Creek Trail through the canyon.

PLAN Jeffco members have been involved at all the meetings. John Litz normally attends as one of the OSAC members, and Eric Finstick has been attending as a hiker alternate. Other board members have often also attended. Eric Finstick, Lee Todd and Ann Bonnell attended the May meeting.

Perhaps the most controversy at this meeting was generated by the recent closure of Reynolds Park to bikes. This was an effort to provide more hiker/equestrian only opportunities. Currently, there are about 140 miles of natural surface trails on Open Space parks, and only about 28 miles of these restrict mountain bikes, including the 6 miles of trails just closed at Reynolds Park. A dozen or more bikers, including a representative of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) attended, largely to protest this closure, and that they felt they had no input into the decision, even though Open Space staff had discussed it with some local bike leaders. Evidently, the word had not been spread adequately before the closure was implemented.

One of the purposes of this meeting was to address how to determine future membership of the task force. It was decided that each group (hikers, bikers, and equestrians) would attempt to have a meeting prior to the next full task force meeting to determine how they would like to select their task force representatives, and also to identify issues they would like the full task force to address.

In addition to discussing task force membership, the August 26^th meeting will be an opportunity to raise issue that some hikers would like the entire task force to address. These include user conflicts, which have been discussed at virtually every meeting, with minimal resolution. A hiker at Apex or Mathews-Winters Parks on a summer evening can encounter as many as 125 bikes in an hour, and virtually no hikers use those parks at prime times. As a result, PLAN Jeffco has advocated an alternate day use system where bikes would be allowed at one park on even days, and the other on odd days. This approach has been successfully used by the National Forest Service in high use areas on several trails around the country. Other possible resolutions to this conflict could be discussed.

As a result of hiker concerns expressed at these task force meetings, as well as letters and calls to Open Space, etc, the Centennial Cone Trails are proposed to be managed for alternate day uses as described above. In addition, the Mount Galbraith Park trails have been constructed as hiker only trails, and as discussed above, Reynolds Park has been closed to bikes. While this has mitigated the impacts to hiking opportunities, Apex, Mathews-Winters, White Ranch and maybe others remain virtually un-hikable because of the sheer volume of bikes at peak hours.

Other topics may include issues associated with "downhillers," which are riders on heavier duty bikes that require a shuttle up to the top of Apex, or Chimney Gulch, or other parks, before riding downhill, usually as fast as they can control their bike. (Sometimes a bit faster!)

Other topics will be solicited for discussion from the attendees. Please come and share your thoughts!