When the Boulder County commissioners initiated a study to determine whether mountain bikes should be prohibited on select days and specific trails at two open space parks, the county’s legion of trailriders was aghast.
The county’s so-called alternating trail use pilot proposal, under study by Boulder County Parks & Open Space staff since April, stemmed from concerns that some hikers are uncomfortable sharing trails with mountain bikes. Alternating use would mean specific activities being allowed only on designated days or times on the same trail.
“It really felt like the mountain bike community was being targeted, explicitly and unnecessarily,” said Tim Stelzer, an avid mountain biker whose children participate in mountain bike teams. “We’re already dealing with such a scarcity of trail access in Boulder, so the idea of restricting even further was really kind of shocking.”
“We have deep concerns over this project because there is no bike-only trail in the entire county of Boulder,” added Wendy Sweet, executive director of the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance. “We don’t think the answer is alternating days on trails. We think the answer is building more trails, especially directional trails and bike-only trails.”
But the concept of shared trails isn’t new. For more than 20 years, Boulder County has imposed restrictions on mountain bikers at Betasso Preserve, located in the foothills west of Boulder. They are allowed five days a week but are prohibited on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Hikers, who have access seven days a week, like that arrangement.
“For folks like myself who are hiking, itap much more pleasant on those days because we don’t have to step aside every five minutes for a bunch of bikes to come through. We don’t have to jump out of the way when a bike comes screaming around a corner unexpectedly,” said hiker Jeff Pistana. “I have a hard time sympathizing with bicyclists who complain about the policy there, because they get five days of unlimited riding and they only have to give up two.”
Sharing trails isn’t new in other parts of the state either. Over the past 10 years, open space managers in neighboring counties have worked to balance the competing interests of hikers and mountain bikers. Their solutions include the designation of biker-only trails and one-way directional trails on select shared-use trails. Some have also implemented alternating schedules for hikers and bikers. And in most cases, public officials say it has been working.
A decision regarding the Boulder County proposal to impose hiker-only days at the two open space areas, Heil Ranch and Hall Ranch, may be coming soon. After conducting surveys and public forums to gauge community sentiment, open space staff will present its findings to the commission on Tuesday.
“Our team is going through the data, balancing it with some of the direct feedback we hear from people, and trying to propose a couple of ideas and alternatives,” said open space director Jason Seuc. “We’re going to speak on a few different matters before the county commissioners. They may make a decision on the path forward.”
Mountain biking is on a roll
Boulder County has been an international mecca for endurance athletes, including elite distance runners, triathletes and cyclists, since the 1970s, and mountain bikers there have developed strong support networks and connections.
But other towns, cities and counties throughout the state know that attracting mountain bikers is good for their economies.
Steamboat Springs, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, the Grand Junction region and Durango are major magnets for the sport, while Idaho Springs, in partnership with the Colorado Mountain Bike Association, is developing a mountain park on a steep slope in Virginia Canyon, adjacent to the new Mighty Argo Cable Car gondola, with free trail access for mountain bikers and hikers.
Winter Park Resort transforms itself into a mountain biking playground each summer, attracting throngs who ride up the mountain with their bikes on the gondola or chairlifts, then take the plunge downhill on expensive bikes with full suspension shock absorption. Clear Creek County built a mountain bike park at Floyd Hill. The city of Blackhawk built one at Maryland Mountain.
Mountain biking is so important in Lyons, which is in Boulder County, that the board of trustees passed a resolution opposing the county’s alternating trail use proposal. Heil Ranch and Hall Ranch are located just south of town.
So it’s not surprising that 55% of the respondents in a survey conducted by Boulder County Open Space said mountain biking was their primary open space activity, as compared to 27% identifying as hikers or walkers. Overall, 75% of the respondents said they oppose or strongly oppose alternating trail use, while 8% support it and 10% strongly support it.
“The less opportunity we find for mountain bikers, people don’t say, ‘Aw, shucks, I’m going to take up pickleball now,'” the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance’s Sweet said. “They’re still going to ride.”
But Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy said she has heard complaints from hikers since mountain bikers have come to dominate trail usage at Heil Park.
“Many hikers have said to me that it is not pleasant to hike on the narrow trails at Heil when you have to constantly be on the lookout for a fast-moving mountain bike coming towards you or gaining on you from behind,” Levy said. “The purpose of the project is to explore options for welcoming hikers back to the trails at Heil Valley Ranch.”
Traffic separation
Open space managers in Jefferson and Larimer counties have taken steps to address issues between hikers and mountain bikers on shared trails, mostly because trailriders move at significantly higher speeds, especially on downhills.
The mountain bike community lauds Jefferson County Open Space for leading the search for solutions.
“When it comes to managing conflict on trails created by heavy multi-use, we have seen quite a bit of that in the Denver metro, most famously Jefferson County Open Space,” said Gary Moore, executive director of the Colorado Mountain Bike Association.
Jeffco instituted an alternating-day system for trailriders and hikers more than a decade ago at Centennial Cone Park, 10 miles west of Golden in Clear Creek Canyon. Since then, it has designated biker-only trails at Matthews/Winters Park and White Ranch Park while instituting an alternating-use system at Apex Park.
More than 100 people turned out at a community meeting called by Jeffco Open Space in 2020 to explain the plan for Apex.
“A lot of them were cyclists, saying, ‘You’re taking this away from us on odd days?'” said Jeffco Open Space spokesman Matt Robbins. “This was met with a lot of caution when we first rolled it out. After a year’s time, we had no evidence that said this wasn’t going to work.”
Two years ago, Jeffco built a new biker-only trail on a steep, wooded, technical slope at Lair o’ the Bear Park near Evergreen.
“Itap been extremely popular,” COMBA’s Moore said of the Rutabaga Ride at Lair o’ the Bear. “The county heard more from hikers thanking them than they did from bikers, because their experience was so improved by having this separation of speed.”
Larimer County has taken a somewhat similar approach. It built a new trail for mountain bikers at Devil’s Backbone Park in 2016 to separate user groups in what had been a congested area near the trailhead. Four years later, a survey commissioned by the county found that 99% of the park’s visitors rated their experiences as good or excellent.
Clear Creek County designed the Floyd Hill Open Space with designated biking and hiking trails. The city of Blackhawk did the same at Maryland Mountain.
At the Virginia Canyon in Idaho Springs, a joint project between the city and COMBA, there is a four-mile climbing trail open to trailriders and hikers that rises 1,300 feet from base to summit.
“It is designed for the hiking experience, bi-directional, and for bikes, it’s uphill only,” COMBA’s Moore said. “Bikes and hikers go up together, but the bikes come down on (other) trails that are purpose-built, designated-use, directional-travel for bikes only.”
Compromise makes sense
Boulder County mountain bikers see what other open space managers are doing and wonder why it’s not happening there.
According to an analysis by the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, there are 152 miles of mountain trails between Boulder County Parks & Space and the city of Boulder’s Open Space & Mountain Parks department. Only 67 miles, Sweet said, are open to bikes.
“We know from other areas that everybody has a better time on the trails when the trails are set up for good experiences,” Sweet said. “That includes things like (one-way) directional loops. And, when bikes are coming downhill, itap more fun for everyone if they are not on the same trail (as hikers).”
COMBA has been pursuing solutions and advising open space planners in several counties for years.
“We have been encouraging land managers that are managing trail systems to institute three basic principles of trail management: Designated use, directional controls and separation by speed,” Moore said. “Designated use is a trail built just for biking or just for hiking or a trail built for equestrian use. You’re going to have the best experience on a trail that is built for the way you want to enjoy it, whether you are a hiker, a biker, an equestrian.”
For instance, he points out that at Apex Park near Golden, designated trails are open for bikes only on even-numbered calendar days, while hikers and equestrians are only allowed on odd-numbered days. On weekends at Centennial Cone, trailriders have access on even-number days, hikers and equestrians on odd-number days.
“I think that compromise, alternating days, has been a decent balance,” said Robbins, the open space spokesman. “We’re not anywhere close to where we want to be. We want to have more.”
Seuc has been the director of Boulder County Open Space since April 6, arriving shortly before the county commissioners announced their alternating trail use proposal. In his previous job, he was a diplomat based in Nepal as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development. He lost that job when the Trump Administration shut down USAID last year.
His diplomacy skills may well come in handy as Boulder County wrestles with its mountain bike issue. He understands the trail-riding community.
“I’m a mountain biker myself, and when I want to go down the trail, it would be great to go with some obstacles, some rocky sections with some fun chunky bits,” he said, using a trailrider term for highly technical sections filled with rocks, roots and ledges, “and not have in the back of my mind, ‘Gosh, I hope I don’t run into somebody.'”
He also understands the anxiety hikers can feel when sharing single-track trails with faster-moving mountain bikes.
“There are a lot that are really comfortable on the trails, but we then hear from members of the community who aren’t so comfortable,” Seuc said. “So itap our job to try to figure out what that balance is.”
