Happy 30th birthday to
the Colorado Trail
by Marian Phillips, CT volunteer coordinator
2004 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Colorado
Trail. To celebrate, the Colorado Trail Foundation invites
everyone to a birthday party on Saturday, September 25. The CT
birthday party will be a spaghetti dinner beginning at 5:00 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima Church in Buena
Vista. For ticket information, contact the CTF office, 303-384-3729
or send e-mail.
“Conceived in 1973 by the US Forest Service, the Colorado Trail
was to fill a void in a growing segment of outdoor users individuals and
families who wanted to walk in the wood and enjoy the out of doors, but didn’t
want the extremes of a wilderness experience… In 1974, a meeting of
several focus groups was organized to brainstorm and develop a plan…. Unfortunately,
many obstacles faced the project, including lack of focus and drive, and cuts
in the Forest Service budgets. But then in the early 1980s, the
Colorado Mountain Club’s Trail and Hut Committee decided to make building
the CT a priority. The CMC committee was headed up by Gudy Gaskill,
who became the Trail’s champion. This priority by the Trail and Hut
Committee became an important turning point for the future of The Colorado
Trail.
“By the end of summer 1987, the Colorado Trail was functionally
linked and open for business between Denver and Durango.”
The Colorado Trail Foundation is the outgrowth of the CMC committees
of the past. Charged with the preservation and maintenance of the Colorado
Trail, the Foundation continues to recruit volunteers from all walks of life
to join week-end and week-long trail crews, maintaining what has come to be
known as one of the nation’s premier long-distance trails.
Quotations are from The Colorado Trail, The Official Guidebook,
CMC Press, 2002.
