The Colorado Trail Foundation Fall Newsletter 2001 President’s Colorado Trail Reroutes It was a very busy summer on The Colorado Trail! The South Corner Platte reroute was completed, and the Copper Mountain reroute was almost completed. Both have been mapped with GPS units by Merle McDonald and can be viewed and/or printed out from any computer with a Web browser by going to Jerry Brown’s Bear Creek Survey Web CoHoCo/CTF Benefit Ride site, http://www.bearcreeksurvey.com/Reroutes.htm, and clicking The Colorado Horse Council/ on the small picture of the reroute at that site. The reroute will Colorado Trail Foundation print out as a 5 x 7 color picture in great detail. All future updates Benefit Horseback Ride took to the CT reference map series CD-ROM will be located at this place on the CT from Tennes- site first. From this same site you can pick up a couple of typo see Pass to Mt. Princeton the corrections to our CD-ROM map of The Colorado Trail. week of August 4 to 11. Twenty-four riders participated, and a donation of $2,350 to the CTF was the result. Clair Gamble, a longtime Friend of The ColoradoTrail, organized the ride. He and his friends Jim and Danielle Russell, Steve Cave,Tom Butterfield, and Dave Gaskill all provided the week-long volunteer support for the ride. (Thanks, Guys and Gals!) Suzanne Webel, Chair of the CoHoCo Trails Commit- tee, provided the organization from their end. Steve Hyde, the owner of Clear Creek Ranch One of the boardwalks completed by Crew 1101 as part of the Copper Mountain Resort (the ranch on the south side reroute. In the words of Stan Ward, crew leader, “Nice setting, eh?” Continued on page 2 Tread Lines Fall 2001 1 Tread Lines Continued from page 1 but the CTF treasurer position has of Clear Creek road that the CT been open for almost a year. As a is the internal newsletter of The Colorado Trail Foundation. It is published three passes through) provided us an nonprofit foundation, we are times a year and distributed to the Friends excellent campsite for one night. exempt from income taxes but not of The Colorado Trail.® The ride ended at Michael income reports. Like most IRS The Colorado Trail is a 500-mile- Martin Murphey’s Singing forms, the 990 is not exactly easy long, high-mountain educational and Cowboy Ranch, located along to decipher. With Michele’s help, recreational hiking trail that meanders through some of the most beautiful terrain Chalk Creek near Mt. Princeton. we got the form in on time and in the state. It stretches from Denver to (Murphey himself is a substan- thereby avoided the IRS’s wrath in Durango with many intermediate access tial supporter of the CT.) The the form of late fines. Thanks, points. riders were impressed by the Michele! We hope you will The Colorado Trail Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, is governed by amount of maintenance work by continue to be available to offer us public agencies and private-sector adopters that was in evidence your excellent advice. We need it! representatives. The Foundation recruits along our ride. Several have and trains volunteers for Colorado Trail offered to come out and help us. Board Meets in Durango construction crews, supplies and supports Everyone had a great time and The fall Board of Directors the crews, conducts fully supported week- long treks on the CT, teaches accredited asked to have another ride next meeting was held in Durango on classes, maintains the CT through its summer. October 13 at Ken Marshall’s Adopt-A-Trail program, distributes house. There were several reasons information on Colorado Trail activities Volunteers Make It Happen! for holding the meeting in and crews, and creates and distributes publications. Donations to the CTF are tax The Colorado Trail Foundation Durango. One, even though deductible. exemplifies the principle that Durango is the southern terminus Serving on the Board of Directors volunteers make it happen. And of the CT, we have never held a are Melanie Barvitski, Steve Deitemeyer, throughout the year, our many Tracy Esslinger, Gudy Gaskill, Jon hundreds of hard-working Contents Page Greeneisen, Susan M. Junkin, Glenn W. “Angels among Us” 4 Kepler, Jonathan Krauss, Bill Manning, volunteers are proof positive of Bicylists from Georgia 4 Ken Marshall, Merle McDonald, Julie that dedication. I would like to State Parks/GOCO Grants 5 Mesdag, George Miller, Pat Nagorka, give special recognition to two National Trails Grant 5 Richard Nolde, Cole Sandau, and Ernie such volunteers, who help with An Inspiration to Us All 6 Werren. “Wildflower Delight” 6 the office work for several hours The CTF business address is 2001 Educational Workshops 7 every week all year long! Liz Volunteer Help Needed 8 The Colorado Trail Foundation Truitt does our bookkeeping CT Display at Library 9 710 10th St., Suite 210 and banking, and Pat Rush logs Lost and Found 9 Golden, CO 80401-5843 in the mail, completes store Please Hold . 9 New CTF Database 9 (303) 384-3729 Ext. 113 sales receipts, and enters data in (24-hour voice mail) CORSAR Cards 10 Fax: (303) 384-3743 the new database. And they have Winter Ski Trip 10 E-mail: [email protected] done this for the past several Holiday Open House 11 Web site: www.coloradotrail.org YEARS. If the Foundation lost Completion Mementos 11 Food Packing 12 Office hours: Varied hours M–F, either of these two ladies, we 9–5, Mountain Standard Time Thank You to Food Donators 13 would be in a world of hurt! Trail Crew WE1 Report 14 Pres.: Merle McDonald, Thank you, Liz and Pat! Trail Crew 0401 Report 14 (719) 599-4258 Another volunteer who Trail Crew 0201 Report 15 Vice Pres.: Jon Greeneisen, has spent a lot of time helping us Trail Crew 0701 Report 16 Kiosk at Durango Trailhead 16 (303) 221-5620 in the office over the past few Sec.: Pat Nagorka Trail Crew 0801 Report 18 Treas.: To be announced months is CPA Michele Furest. Trail Crew 1001 Report 19 Staff: Suzanne Reed and Marian Phillips, Her help was invaluable in Trail Crew 0901 Report 20 Administrators, Volunteer Coordinators putting together our Internal Trail Crew 1401 Report 21 Trail Crew 1101 Report 22 Revenue Form 990 for the year This edition of Tread Lines was compiled Trail Crew 1501 Report 27 and edited by Susan M. Junkin and 2000 and organizing our ac- Trail Crew 1601 Report 28 Richard Nolde. In addition, Richard was counting records in a more Bill Weber’s Light Toolkit 30 responsible for all graphics and logical order. Normally, our Wanted 30 typographic pre-press operations. treasurer would handle this task, Store Page 31 2 Tread Lines Fall 2001 Board meeting there. Our directors of Pulaskis, page 5. Although the lodging, postal holding services, who live in Durango have always Forest Service requires many transportation, and other services had to come to Denver for Board Pulaskis to be on hand for their that trail users often need. (We meetings and at their own ex- primary purpose of fire fighting, would be happy to take recom- pense. Fair is fair. we have been able to use them for mendations from CT users.) We Another reason is that the trail building when there are no envision this to be an experimental Durango-area volunteers provided fires. program to test response. a new kiosk for the southern But the digging side of a terminus of the CT, and the Board Pulaski is optimized for digging Work on Completing the CDT wanted to be at the dedication of out small roots, not rocks. A pick The Continental Divide Trail the kiosk at 10 A.M. on October 13. is a far more efficient tool for rock Alliance is working to complete Over the years we have had removal. As all CT builders know, the Continental Divide National comments from travelers complet- digging out rocks is one of our Scenic Trail (CDT) from Mexico ing the CT that the southern primary occupations. Therefore, to Canada. The 800 miles of it in terminus was “underwhelming.” we have purchased quite a few Colorado are fairly well defined. The new kiosk should definitely pick-mattocks in a couple of Two hundred forty-three miles of help with that perception! See different sizes to supplement our the CDT are overlaid on The photo, page 16. Pulaski inventory. We have also Colorado Trail: from Georgia Pass The southern terminus added some cutter-mattocks to aid to Clear Creek and from Marshall also has a few other problems, not in root cutting in rock-infested Pass to Pole Creek. In order to the least of which is very limited ground. Another of our new tools emphasize the progress being parking availability. In addition, is a round-tip shovel with the made on the CDT, the Continental no camping is permitted in the blade perpendicular to the handle. Divide Trail Alliance held a day- area, nor is there a public tele- I have found it excellent for long horseback ride on August 12 phone or restroom. And the walk cleaning drainage dips. We have on the newly constructed section into town is another seven miles also purchased some half-size of the CT/CDT through the woods along a very narrow, heavily McLeods that were very well above Copper Mountain Resort traveled road without shoulders. received by many volunteers this and up Guller Creek to Janet’s This is hazardous as well as past summer. Another tool we Cabin for lunch and back.