Thursday 30 March 2023

[cobirds] New trails at Fishers Peak State Park

For those of you who have explored the new Fishers Peak State Park near Trinidad, there have been exciting developments within the last six months. Until recently, there has been only one substantial trail in the park offering a steep hike of about 1.5 miles through predominantly pinyon-juniper woodland. Behind the scenes, however, the next phase of the trail system has been under development. Sometime since August, those new trails have opened up offering a wealth of new hiking options.

The first few years the park was open, the main trail was the Challenge Trail which ended after a steep uphill walk at two posted gates. On Tuesday afternoon shortly after beginning that hike, I found a new wooden bridge over a side drainage with a sign marking the Lower Lone Cub Trail. The trail leads to a junction about 1.2 miles in with the Upper Lone Cub Trail that continues uphill another 1.1 miles to the top of the Challenge Trail. Another bike-only trail, the Poison Trail, leads downhill.

On Wednesday, I learned that the Goldenrod Trail from the top of the Challenge Trail offers a long hike back to the lower portion of the Challenge Trail. While these trails are all in predominantly pinyon-juniper woodland, the now offer varied loop hike options for birders who like a good hike along with their birding. 

Here's the link to the CPW information about the new trails. https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/FishersPeak/Pages/Trails.aspx

Chuck Hundertmark
Lafayette, CO

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