Trapper’s HOA okays Baxter Gulch easement with conditions

Hunters may not understand the elk are on private property

The Trapper’s Crossing Home Owners Association is tentatively on board with granting an easement to Baxter Gulch through Lot 19 of the Trapper’s Crossing at Wildcat subdivision. The HOA has to sign off on the easement before it could be implemented.

Last week the local 1% for Open Space board of directors voted to spend $46,000 and purchase the easement that provides a useable biking and hiking trail up Baxter Gulch, south of the town of Crested Butte.
The Trapper’s board met Friday. According to HOA manager Angela Reeves, the board approved the easement subject to a few conditions. Reeves must officially contact the owner of Lot 20 to see if they are opposed to the trail and the board would like signage at the bottom of the trail making it clear users are on private property and need to stay on the trail.
“Owners were concerned that people would leave the trail and trespass on the nearby lots,” explained Reeves. “Some expressed a concern over hunters going back there. They felt that if the hunters spotted a herd of elk, they were unlikely to turn away because it wouldn’t be clear they were on private property. Therefore, the association is asking for signage at the start of the trail.”
”In addition the HOA would like for somebody other than the association to have a surveyor GPS the Trappers boundary line and mark it with occasional ‘No Trespassing’ signs,” Reeves continued. “They feel that it should not be an association expense, as without the trail it would be unnecessary to do that. The board understands that people do not always read signs or if they read them they disregard them, but the signage will be useful at discouraging some people from straying off the trail.”
Reeves sent local attorney Jim Starr the board’s concerns and asked how they would be addressed. Starr, who has been an integral player in obtaining the easement, said he has forwarded the concerns of the HOA to the seller and the town. The town has indicated it would be willing to place some signs on the trail. Starr is still waiting to hear from the seller about the GPS survey.
The purchase of the easement is set to close November 4.
For more on the issue, we will begin a two part series next week looking at the Baxter Gulch dilemma, both past and future.