Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

By TOMMY MANNING

Editor’s note: Manning is a math teacher and cross country coach at Fountain Valley School who's part of the U.S. Mountain Running Team and finished runner-up in the 2011 Pikes Peak Ascent. He provides periodic tips — all of which can be found here on OutThereColorado.com.

I went for a Sunday morning run in Cheyenne Cañon a few weekends ago. While I was running up from the high school, I passed an entire crew of people doing trail work near the La Veta parking lot. As I passed them, I said, “Thanks for coming out and working on the trail,” and kept running.

I wanted to know who was doing the trail work, so on my way back to the car, I stopped and asked. It turns out it was a Boy Scout group doing the work as part of an Eagle Scout service project. Chris Garcia (I hope I have his name right – I didn’t actually talk to him) of Troop 110 decided to do trail work in the Stratton Open Space area to earn his Eagle Scout. Good for Chris and the boys in Troop 110. I wish more people would volunteer to do trail work like this group of young men.

It is no secret that trail user numbers far exceed trail volunteer and trail laborer numbers. Traffic on trails causes severe trail erosion, among other things. Trail volunteers fix eroded trails, reroute trails and reroute water to decrease the impact of erosion. In addition, trail volunteers fix damaged sections of trail, close illegal trails, restore vegetation where needed and keep trails safe for all of us.

I have worked with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute in Colorado Springs and know they can always use more help. I see crews from RMFI working on Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs, on Barr Trail and in Garden of the Gods. They are constantly working on the trails in Garden of the Gods, and we can all thank them for the nice trails we use.

Students at my high school do trail work with RMFI every year (at the Beaver Creek Wilderness and in Garden of the Gods) and I enjoy the work days every time I go. Visit their site to learn how you can help. Our school also works with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte. CUSP does its work along the Upper South Platte Watershed and has many volunteer opportunities for those who want to get involved. I am sure there are several other organizations doing trail work, too. If we could all find some time to pitch in and help out on the trails, our trails in Colorado Springs would be in a lot better shape pretty quickly.

Durango has some of the best trails in the state, and they are always in good condition. They also have a great group called Trails 2000 doing a heck of a lot of work. Trails 2000 does trail work all around Durango and on the Colorado Trail outside of town. If you have ever been on the wonderful trails of Durango, you know how nice and well kept they are and you can see how much work has gone into the trails. You can thank Trails 2000 for all of the hard work they have put into their network of trails.

I wrote a few weeks ago about becoming a volunteer for a local race and now I would like to thank Chris Garcia and Boy Scout Troop 110 for putting the idea of trail work in my head. I cannot wait to go out to the Stratton Open Space again to see the results of their work. I am also going to look at my calendar to my latest email from RMFI to see when I can go out and volunteer to do some trail work. If you are like me and use the trails often, then I think the best way to give back is to volunteer to get your hands dirty and do some labor on the very trails we use.