For the next few weeks, The US Forest Service is accepting public comment on a new proposal that will govern the future of recreation in the White River National Forest. These include some serious quality of life upgrades including trailhead restrooms, increased parking spaces, and connector trails.

The plan also includes an enormous and unnecessary expa…

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REI’s decision to end its “Experiences” division had a devastating impact on the outdoor industry. If you didn’t know: for decades, you used to be able to walk into an REI, or “Recreation Equipment Incorporated,” and book skill classes or guided excursions. Earlier this year, REI decided to scrap this program, laying o…

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The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative is poised to release their 2024 use report, which gives us a great snapshot of trail access and hiking habits. As local governments tinker with paid permits and access restrictions, this data gives us a good look at whether those policies are helping — or harming the outdoor community.

When organizing all my past research to prep for this year’s installment, I realized I was on hiatus when last year’s numbers came out. In the interest of completeness, I’ve decided to do a quick breakdown of the missing numbers, search for new trends, and set us up to better understand the upcoming data.

The Big Picture

Colorado’s 14ers have come full circle, with 2023 garnering the exact same number of hiker use days1 as 2015 — the first year for which accurate data is available. Since the COVID-era boom in outdoor recreation, these visitor numbers have fallen well below the previous baseline.

What’s less clear is whether COVID (and the response to it) reversed the growth hiking community’s growth, or if it was simply an outlier in the overall trend.

When I first started crunching the trail use numbers, we didn’t have a lot of data points to paint a clear picture. Now, we’re starting to see some longer-term trends over close to a decade in time.

To complete this article, I’ve boiled down 9 years of trail use data into just a few nifty graphs. As always, I want to make the data transparent and available to you. All of the raw numbers can be found below in one convenient PDF:

Colorado Hiker Use Days Raw Data

497KB ∙ PDF file

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I’ve also linked my three previous iterations of this report, in case you’re curious about how my analysis has held up over time:

• 2022 — Quandary Collapse

• 2021 — The “Not Trails”

• 2020 — The Alpine Amusement Park

The Nitty Gritty

This year’s numbers raise some interesting questions, which I hope to be able to answer in the coming weeks. The first example is a kind of herding trend. Colorado’s most popular peaks started off roughly equal in terms of popularity, before clear favorites started emerging.

Now they’re back almost exactly where they started, with the exception of the DeCaLiBron loop. But due to the land use quagmire surrounding this particular trail, I don’t think this is a reliable data point.

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Facing massive backlash, Utah Senator Mike Lee is pulling his plan to sell federal land from the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”

While the immediate threat to public land is over, Lee is very clear that he intends to try again later. Let’s take a look at his statement on the withdrawal:

Over the past several weeks, l've spent a lot of time listening to me…

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The year is 2040, and you’re excited to take your son on his first ever camping trip.

You’ve been waiting for this day for a long time — and I mean a LONG time. It’s taken half a decade to get your $500 timed entry application to Citi Bank National Park and Preserve, the sole square mile of undeveloped land in the entire state.

Packing is a cinch! Since A…

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The Sun was Blazing Hot, and Our Goal was to Find a Quick, Easy Hike in the Shade

I try to get out for a hike once a week. But on the heels of a particularly tough bike ride, I opted for something familiar in a wilderness area we had come to love.

The trailhead we typically started from was closed, so we headed to the other side of the park to tackle a br…

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At the edge of the forest, a warning sign stood beside the base of a rock staircase:

The trail snaked beneath a canopy of swaying pines, crisscrossing a shallow creek that babbled over an innumerable succession of waterfalls.

As promised, the trail pressed closer into the rock outcropping that lined the steep valley. The mossy rock was cool against my hands as I felt for sturdy handholds, making steady progress through the scramble section.

I had anticipated this obstacle after consulting the map. My plan had been to keep my camera stowed until after I had completed the climbing section. Judging by the topographical map, the trail after that became a gradual jaunt through the upper meadow, where I was expecting some dramatic views overlooking the valley.

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In a monumental win for affordable access to snow sports: Panadero Ski Corporation has inked a 40 year deal with Huerfano County, to continue operating Cuchara Mountain Park as a community ski hill.

If you’re not familiar: Cuchara Mountain Park was a resort that had a brief tenure in southern Colorado, before shutting down.

For the past several years, a dedicated group has been working to restore the property, bring back lift served skiing, and secure affordable access to the sport. Quandary Magazine has been covering this effort for the past several years. You can catch up on past coverage here:

Quandary Magazine

Podcast #13: Reviving an Abandoned Ski Resort with Will Pirkey

Snow sports have been trending in a direction that’s more affordable in the long term. But it’s done at the expense of a much higher financial barrier to entry for new riders. The Panadero Ski Corporation is working to change that.To support independent writing and get access to interviews, stories, and original reporting on the outdoors: subscribe to C…

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4 years ago · 14 likes · 8 comments · Cole Noble

The short version is: After helping the county buy the property, Panadero Ski Corporation — or PSC — spun off of the Cuchara Foundation in 2019 to laser-focus on reviving the base area, and restoring Lift 4. This has proven to be an absolutely monstrous task. Chairlifts are complex pieces of machinery, and this one has sat unused and in the elements for close to a quarter of a century.

It’s a little like opening Pandora’s Box — or Panadero’s Box if you want to be clever about it: each step of progression reveals hitherto unknown problems, which PSC has to fund raise for, and fix.

The mechanical issues — which we will revisit later in this article — are only one challenge facing the organization. Arguably more significant has been the instability of year-to-year operation agreements.

The Long-Term Problem

Board member Ken Clayton explained that when the county first approached PSC about running the park, they were essentially placed in charge for a year, with the possibility to renew. And while that original agreement has been extended several times, this was never a guarantee.

“It made it very difficult for us to raise money, commit to hiring people, you know, get the community behind us with those one year agreements, not knowing if we would be there the next fall,” Clayton said. “One of the one of the positions in the original grant was a mountain manager… We couldn't hire that person until we knew that there'd be a mountain for them to run.”

With an uncertain future, even simple operational matters such as advance season pass sales were difficult to manage. “It wasn't the right thing for us to say if we didn't know we would be there in 25 and 26,” Clayton said.

The “Luxury” Option

Through no real fault of their own, Panadero Ski Corporation has fallen years behind their original projections. During the first follow-up story (this is the 3rd,) PSC told Quandary Magazine it was hopeful Lift 4 could pass a Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board inspection, purchase insurance, and start lift served skiing before the end of 2022.

Quandary Magazine

Update — The Quest to Revive an Abandoned Ski Resort

CUCHARA, CO — July 21, 2022…

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4 years ago · 14 likes · 2 comments · Cole Noble

While they’ve come a long way, this milestone still has not come to pass. In the meantime, some members of the community came to see Cuchara Mountain Park as a vehicle for regional tourism.

According to Clayton, the county was strongly urged to start a conversation with a company called Buckhorn Ridge Outfitters. The outfitter submitted a county plan to create what it described as a “Luxury resort guest experience,” including personal concierge services, and the development of solar-equipped “luxury tiny lodges.”

An important piece of context is that Cuchara Mountain Park has a rough history with real estate development. In an earlier discussion, former board member Will Pirkey described previous operators as development-centered, rather than ski-centered. In other words: their business model was more geared toward selling premium real estate around the park than the rider experience itself. Pirkey partially attributed CMP’s initial closure to this very factor.

Also worth bearing in mind: CMP essentially operates in a ski desert. The next closest place to get your turns1 is two hours away — in New Mexico. Skiers in Atlanta Georgia have closer options.

Compare this to Colorado’s I-70 mountain corridor, where you can find 12 ski areas clustered within a two hour drive from Denver.

The concentration of major resorts pictured above can easily support a large hospitality industry. This is not the case in Huerfano County, where Clayton says many tourist-dependent businesses actually close up shop for the winter season. With CMP serving visitors, that’s slowly changing.

“Since I have had a house up there, there have been no restaurants open from New Year's to Memorial Day. This year we had a restaurant that stayed open on the weekends, because we were bringing enough people up there to actually have business,” Clayton said. “There's lodges up there now that have that have year round occupancy because of people coming up to ski.”

Carrying Capacity

While this trend is promising, many of these local businesses still have significant vacancy.

When weighing in on both PSC’s stewardship, and the Buckhorn plan, multiple residents raised concerns about overloading the market with offerings, when existing businesses are still struggling to hit full capacity.

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“The Panadero Ski Corporation has done an excellent job providing year round activities for Huerfano County. At this time we have a restaurant ate the Cuchara Mountain Park. There are many lodging opportunity available right at the Cuchara Mountain Park through Aspen Leaf Condos and homes on the loop. In addition to lodging in Cuchara at the Lokal Hotel, Bachman and Associates and the Bed and breakfast. None of them are at full occupancy now.

Additional lodging is not needed. Adding additional restaurants may cause all restaurants to fail including the new ones.

Currently there is not enough customers to allow full time restaurants to operate now. Perhaps in the future when visitors increase adding lodging and restaurants would be feasible. At this time I would let our current lodging and restaurants have the ability to become viable year round.”

—Chlide2

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“Our family has donated to the Cuchara Mountain Park with the understanding that it will be protected and preserved for the community - not developed for housing or private interests!

There are already hotel and home rentals available in the area that are under used and this proposal will negatively impact our local existing businesses.”

—Rebecca

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Some neighbors also expressed resistance toward entering the luxury market, where CMP would likely be competing for clientele with the state’s multitude of much larger, oftentimes world class ski destinations.

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“The beauty of this park is that it is the result of volunteers, local donations and a grass root effort to create a year round park for the people of Huerfano County as well as visitors to the Cuchara Valley.

Panadero Ski Corporation has been a great steward of the Park and has attracted skilled members who have been critical in the rehab, reconstruction and operation of the Park and ski hill. They know the community, the mountain, the weather and the culture here in Huerfano County. Their proposal is measured and realistic and has focused on community access and year round operation. Continuing to partner with this organization makes sense to me.

Buckhorn Ridge Outfitters proposal is aimed at high-end/luxury accommodations and services. They offer no evidence that there is a market for this kind of service in Southern Colorado.”

—Brad

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“I have young kids and what intrigues me about Cuchara is the affordability, access to the outdoors, and ability to enjoy USFS land. Don't turn this into another resort with expensive lodging, Colorado has too many of these. We need family friendly places that are affordable.”

—Josh

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The Affordable Skiing Unicorn

Respondents also made it clear: affordability matters. The age of the omni-pass has been a boon for high frequency riders. But it’s also made starting the sport cost-prohibitively expensive for a lot of families.

In a previous article, Quandary Magazine priced out the cost of getting on the slopes for the first time. The cheapest price without comprising on safety equipment was $312 for a single day. This was based on rental, ticket, and lesson rates from Loveland Ski Area.

At other non-locally owned mountains in the area, this would cost several hundred dollars more. Scale this cost up to an average family of four, and we’ve gone past the point of affordability for many.

Quandary Magazine

Snowboarding or Skiing on a Budget

Some snowboarders and skiers zip down the mountain wearing thousands of dollars in equipment. That price tag can be intimidating to someone looking to break into the sport…

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4 years ago · 11 likes · 4 comments · Cole Noble

At Panadero prices, you could take your child riding for an entire season for the cost of a single day lift ticket at many other Colorado resorts. This makes the hill a bit of an affordable skiing unicorn, something that both neighbors, and the broader ski community seem eager to keep.

Members of the public voted more than 90% in favor of making PSC the sole operator for the next 40 years.

“It wasn't a shock to us, it was it was more to just say, ‘hey we hear you, we now understand and realize that the intent was for this to be a public park for everyone to enjoy, not a luxury development…’ and that was how it was sold to the commissioners,” Clayton said.

Huerfano county’s multi-decade agreement also bans the development of onsite hospitality — such as the aforementioned luxury tiny cabins — for the entire duration.

Quandary Magazine has reached out to Buckhorn Ridge Outfitters about the rejection of its proposal. At time of publication, they have not responded with comment.

For PSC, the agreement makes long-term planning possible, solving a host of strategic problems that have hindered their mission.

“By getting a 40 year agreement, it basically allows us to plan the future of that park, plan fundraisers, plan camps for kids next summer, stuff that we never knew that we could do because we never knew if we'd be there.”

Below the Paywall:

• PSC’s updated timeline for when Lift 4 will be back in service

• A breakthrough in funding for park upgrades and amenities

• Will Cuchara Mountain have lessons available for beginners?

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The mag now has its own dedicated section called Adventures which you can opt out of. To do this, simply click on your profile icon…

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Then again, the superb-quality spring skiing Loveland delivered is largely what’s been keeping me from writing these past few weeks. We’re now in a productivity sweet spot between the lifts stopping, and the trails thawing. In this brief off-season, I’m doing my best to catch up on production.

Loveland is doing the same in its off season. The ski area now has approval from the US Forest Service to upgrade Lift 7. If you haven’t been: this one’s a short shot up the bunny hill in Loveland Valley, which is the mountain’s beginner zone.

“This new lift is all about creating a better experience for our guests,” said Rob Goodell, COO and Senior Vice President of Clear Creek Skiing Corporation. “By giving beginners more space to get comfortable loading, we're helping families and new skiers feel confident from their very first run. It's an investment in the future of skiing and riding at Loveland.”

The new Leitner-Poma quad will still be a fixed grip, but will double the seating capacity. It’s a nice quality of life upgrade that will let families ride together up the bunny hill, mostly to the benefit of beginners and first-time riders. After all, most Loveland visitors move on to the much larger basin as soon as their skill level allows.

Still, the chair upgrade is providing a great opportunity to own a historic piece of the resort. Season pass holders are eligible to buy the old chairs, before construction on the new lift begins. Since the chairs are in short supply, Loveland is staging a lottery to determine who gets to buy one.

Entry Requirements & Things to Know

• You have to have your 25/26 season pass, which you can get here

• Chair price will be $650

• While multiple passholders from the same household can enter, there can only be one winner per household

• Winners have to pay and pick up their chairs between Monday June 2nd, and Thursday June 12th

• Winners are responsible for transporting their own chair

• Winners can’t transfer their chair to someone else

• You don’t get to pick the chair number

• Registration is open through Tuesday, May 27th

• Winners will be notified by May 30th

Enter the Lift 7 Lottery

Construction on Lift 7 is set to wrap up in time for the 2025–2026 winter season.

Loveland also plans to regrade and reshape the Zig Zag trail for the upcoming season.

Looking farther ahead to the 26/27 season: Loveland is planning to upgrade the parking lot to better accommodate guests during busy powder days.

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Our planet is full of big, complex ecosystems that require a lot of dirty, thankless jobs to keep humming along: Scavengers pick the bones of dead animals, termites break down dead wood, and microorganisms digest literal crap, turning it into useful nutrients.

The topic of today’s article is one such creatu…

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Go play outside today!

Oh, and subscribe to Quandary mag!

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Loveland Ski Area — an excellent spot situated atop I70’s Eisenhower Tunnel — was kind enough to share the above video.

It’s hard to tell from the snow stake, but it looks like they got at least a foot.

This latest round puts Loveland over the 300” mark for the 24/25 season. And there’s still a good amount of season left to go. Loveland Ski Area is scheduled to stay open through Sunday, May 11, 2025.

At time of publication, the snow is still coming down. Highway conditions along the mountain corridor have been difficult with CDOT reporting multiple closures, spin outs, and traffic trouble along I70.

For those of you in Denver: drive safe. For everyone else, I hope you enjoy the view!

Editor’s note — this post originally was published in May of 2022, and was received by an audience of 672 people. Recently, I was hiking in the same area, and thought back to the piece. For those of you who have been around since the original post was published, thank you for your continued and devoted readership.

—Cole

Pine trees have always held a kind of magic for me.

The straight, unwavering geometry of these forests always makes me feel as if I’m walking through ancient, overgrown corridors. The trunks creak like the rusted hinges of ancient doors, groaning with each gust of wind — while the upper branches whisper and sway.

Softy, mossy carpet underfoot.

The sweet smell of their needles.

My first real hike of the season brought me through one of these sprawling, organic halls, and I couldn’t’ve been more thrilled at the outset.

Plans to snowboard with a friend fell through when we looked at the forecast: 60 mph winds were enough to make anyone miserable on the lift. Unwilling to brave bad conditions for worse snow, we decide to salvage our day with a hike. Nothing too strenuous.

I picked a spot off the map that looked like it would take us to a nice overlook, without breaking the tree line.

With our target acquired, we drove west, headed for a four-mile loop up to a knoll in Evergreen.

We clutched our hats and turned our heads away from the howling wind, crossing the dusty field between the trailhead parking area, and the forest.

We made excellent time through the woods. Within 45 minutes, I could tell we were closing in on the summit: the tall pine trees grew increasingly sparse, broken up by fields of bright green shrubs and moss.

The wind blew a bit stronger, the rustling louder. I felt my enthusiasm building with the breeze. Surely, the view from the top will be incredible.

But the incredible outlook I’d hoped for, never came.

Experiencing Something Completely Different

Of all the interviews I’ve endured, no hiring manager or admissions counselor could ever match the nerves I felt during my Eagle Scout board of review. The experience was a life-changing reflection on leadership, service, and my years spent as a Scout.

I sat down in a tiny conference room before the committee. I shivered — though I’m not sure whether it was from nerves or the cold December air, leaking in through single-pane windows. I smoothed out the wrinkles in my uniform pants before resting my hands on the edge of the table, resisting the urge to fidget.

12 years after the fact, I’m having a hard time remembering who asked the first question, or what exactly it was. But among the early inquiries was one to the effect of:

“What was an outdoor experience you had, that you wish every Scout could have?”

My brain rifled through a young lifetime of memories. Countless summits I’ve stood on, the breathtaking views I’ve seen, and the unique places I’d explored. But one jumped to the forefront of my mind.

“Balsam Lake.”

In the backcountry, you never really get into trouble from one thing going wrong. It’s when problems start to pile up that you find yourself in danger — and what a massive pile we had on that hike.

A late start, a long way to go, and temperatures flirting with zero as we traipsed through the frozen forest. Each tree drooped, encased in ice from the recent freezing rainstorm.

We walked for 8 miles without rest, carrying heavy packs, to try and reach the rendezvous point. The other half of our troop had formed a second crew, hiking in from the opposite direction.

Since they were making the much shorter trip — only about a mile and a half — they had all the tents and were in charge of actually making camp. We just had to reach them. Of course, this also meant that we needed to make it to camp, or we would have nowhere to sleep.

This endeavor is one of the few times in my life I truly feared for my safety, and ultimately think it will wind up getting its own story on another day.

The big takeaway here is that when we were setting out to start our adventure, we were expecting to see this at the end of the trail:

Instead, we got a frigid void.

The sunset picture above was taken by the other crew. When our team reached the summit, it was pitch black. All that work, for nothing.

Well, maybe not Nothing

Even though the trip didn’t wow us with an incredible view, it was certainly the experience of a lifetime. The things I remember most are, in order: the way the sun lit up the crystal trees; wondering if I’d lose my fingers to hypothermia; and the best damn bowl of fettuccini alfredo I’ve had in my life.

I picked this example in my board of review because it taught me the most about myself, what I was capable of, and what to do when the end goal isn’t what you were expecting.

After all, the point of Scouting is to mold you into a capable, honorable adult. And how often have you reached a milestone in your life, only to find it wasn’t all you hoped it would be?

Experiences Make Stronger Memories

I’ve spoken to another committee member from my troop, who has sat on plenty of Boards of Review. Out of all the times a Scout was asked to recount their favorite memory, no one ever told them: “standing on top of the mountain, admiring the view from the summit.”

On the contrary, it was almost always a trip involving some kind of disaster or setback.

Sometimes the viewless summits are the ones we look back on the most because they allow us to focus on the experience, shift our expectations, and adapt to changes.

I Want to Hear from You

Can you think of a time in your life when a summit — or big milestone — wasn’t quite what you were expecting? I’d love to hear about it; you can leave a comment below just by clicking the button.

Leave a comment

And if you enjoyed this article, liking, commenting, and sharing are all fantastic ways you can support more writing like this, and help welcome more people into the sustainable outdoor community.

This weekend, I’ll also be hosting a discussion thread where we do a complete 180: instead of discussing viewless summits, we’re talking about the mountain tops that really did deliver. The best of the best.

I can’t wait! In the meantime, thank you so much for reading! I look forward to seeing your responses.

My cross-country relocation offered a great opportunity for adventure; the move out/move in dates didn’t quite line up, which left me with a full week without someplace to live.

On the upside, this meant there was absolutely no rush to finish my 2000 mile drive.

My brother in Tennessee was gracious enough to host me for a few days, and find us a halfway decent hike to help stretch my legs.

We settled on a place called Radnor Lake, which sounded to me like something borrowed from Norse mythology. The trail wound through the still-dormant forest, up along a riverbank and over a small dam, before working its way around the eponymous lake.

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Recent firings and funding cuts have led to protests, and panic about the future of our natural resources. While these changes are happening at the federal level, you may be wondering whether your favorite local gems could be impacted.

In the Colorado Rockies, the Fourteeners immediately jump to mind. This collection of 14 thousand foot-plus peaks can r…

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Work brought me away from the Rockies for a couple of years. When I returned, I decided to revisit one of my favorite hikes – previously documented and photographed in the post below:

Quandary Magazine

That's Not Your Path — But it Sure Looks Like it

Subscribe free for stories, interviews, and original reporting on issues impacting the outdoor community…

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4 years ago · 19 likes · 10 comments · Cole Noble

There’s a lot to like About this Butte

This out-and-back trail boasts enough mileage to make it seem just a little bit less approachable than its neighbors, making the route…

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Editor’s Introduction

Today’s traveler is sharing the culmination of a lifetime of wonder in New York’s Catskill Mountain range, surrounding a mysterious lakeside castle.

This region holds a special place in my heart; growing up on Long Island, most of our camping and skiing trips took place here. My family maintained a decades-old traditional pilgrimage …

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In a world where graphics, video and pictures have gotten sharper than our eyes can perceive, one photographer dares to ask: what if we didn’t do that?

Bentley Zylstra has spent the better part of the past year learning the ropes of magazine publication, to bring us Revelry Collection — now available in print by clicking here.

"Our Memories aren’t Crystal Clear or Perfect; it’s Kinda Similar to the way film is. Maybe that’s why We find so much Meaning with it."

This magazine has an interesting hook: everything in it was shot on film. Bentley explains that this is to make the reading experience feel more raw and natural, like you were actually there yourself.

Interview Notes

0:52 — Why work in print?
1:45 — Getting started in photography
3:05 — Deciding to go analogue-only
4:38 — On “Photographic Overkill” (earlier article referenced)
5:50 — Replicating the feel of memories
7:00 — The struggles of starting a magazine
10:00 — Low effort filler content
12:15 — Fighting for clicks in the “attention economy”
15:00 — Zoom tries to censor the cover of Issue 001.
16:52 — The Red Bullification of outdoor media
19:20 — How to get your copy of Revelry Collection
20:09 — Getting your copy

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A problem plaguing many magazines is a clear struggle to scrape together enough filler content to keep the ad volume tolerable. As a reader, it’s painfully obvious when you’re being fed watered down writing.

Bentley says he’s had the opposite problem, describing the decision on what makes it into the magazine one of his biggest challenges in the process.

If you’re intrigued by this project, make sure you pay his site a visit.

And if you enjoyed the podcast, please consider sharing it. We rely on organic growth and word of mouth to find new listeners, so hitting that share button is extremely helpful.

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Original music for the Trail Talk podcast is produced by Ty Ellenbogen.

I like Trains. I also like fun Facts.

The Georgetown Loop Railroad has both.

Somehow, I managed to spend years living in Colorado without ever actually climbing aboard the train. Georgetown had always been an enjoyable place to stop on my way to, or back from, another mountain journey; but I’d never explored the history of the town itself properly.

Recently, I decided to remedy this, and bought my ticket.

Passengers board at Devil’s Gate Depot, a creek-side station nestled near the end of a long mountain valley. Overhead, a dizzying bridge frames a gorgeous view of the eastward road back into town.

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