The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
State, town, CBMBA, Forest Service all working toward completion
By Mark Reaman
With the help of several groups and grants, another wild backcountry trail just outside of Crested Butte could be online by the end of next summer.
Great Outdoors Colorado awarded $25,200 to the Town of Crested Butte to fund a group of young people to again work on the Baxter Gulch Trail south of town. That grant should be the final piece of the puzzle to link the town’s easement for the trail to the Forest Service trail farther west in the gulch.
Town planner Michael Yerman said the completion of that trail would be a huge bonus for hikers and bikers who like a true backcountry experience. Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) executive director Dave Ochs described the completed trail as one that honors the mining past of the community while getting into some truly wild country.
“Baxter’s is a glimpse into our mining past, and access into a wild and beautiful backcountry just a stone’s throw from the edge of town,” said Ochs. “The opportunities to link with Carbon Creek Trail #436 create an amazing loop with the Green Lake Trail, and staring up at the iconic flanks of Whetstone Mountain is worth having a parade for. It’s going to be that good!”
Yerman said the six-mile Baxter Gulch Trail project has taken six years and involved the last three town planners, including himself, Jake Jones and John Hess. “This trail gets us essentially from Avalanche Park along Highway 135 up to the Carbon Trail and Green Lake. It is a great project that has taken a lot of time but one that people will be blown away by when they hike it or bike it.”
The GOCO grant will pay for the Youth Corps group of the Western Colorado Conservation Corps to come in for four weeks and build a one-mile stretch of the town portion of the trail across Hidden Mine Ranch. This will be the sixth summer of Youth Corps assistance. CBMBA has targeted Baxter Gulch as a top priority next summer and plans to do the rest of the town trail in 2017.
“CBMBA has been putting time and resources into Baxter Gulch for several years now, working alongside Yerman to create the best and most sustainable trail we can,” Ochs explained. “There have been big obstacles. It’s not easy country to navigate, let alone create ideal alignment. Without the help of the GOCO funding and the Colorado Conservation Corps crews it has provided, we would not be in the position we are—that position being that we are planning to finish off the Baxter Gulch trail next year.
“The Forest Service has indicated to us that all diligence is done and finishing this trail next year is on the top of their list,” Ochs continued. “We are ready to put this trail together, start-to-end in 2017. CBMBA is incredibly excited to make this a very large priority of our own next year, and see it completed over the course of several workdays and perhaps the CBMBA Annual Overnight, after the GOCO-funded crews are done and have set the way for us to do so.”
There are about 1.5 miles of work to do on Forest Service property. The town and Forest Service hope to obtain a Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant this coming year to help fund that work.
“We are planning to begin construction of the Baxter Gulch Trail this coming summer,” said Gunnison Forest district ranger John Murphy. “We have some coordination to do with our partners to determine who is doing what and when it will be done, before I can give you an anticipated date for the trail to be open.”
Ochs is excited at the idea of getting a new trail open so close to Crested Butte. “We are grateful for the work and the time that the town of Crested Butte, Michael Yerman, the Crested Butte Land Trust and many, many more have put into making this a reality,” added Ochs. ”Trail #565, the old Baxter Gulch, was a gnarly climb and then flanked Whetstone over a scree field of mad proportions. Knowing this trail was access to a previous way of life and our forebears, it’s a compliment to see the work and efforts that the GOCO funding has provided being used to create such a spectacular amenity, with nothing shy of spectacular trail-building required. It’s rugged country! This new trail will become immediately inundated into the Crested Butte spirit of why this place is so special, why the trails are so good, and how working together we do amazing things.”
Yerman said the town appreciates the work that is done by the Youth Corps in July, and while their work with the Baxter Gulch trail will be done next summer, the hope is to keep them coming back to the area to work on open space and trail stewardship with the town and the Crested Butte Land Trust.
