New Plan to Bring Upgrades, Overhaul to Popular Outdoor Recreation Area
The US Forest Service wants you to weigh in on the new Southern Tenmile Range Access Plan (STRAP), and you absolutely SHOULD if you value access to the outdoors
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 expansion of the controversial Quandary Peak shuttle and reservation system.
Background
If you are unfamiliar: visitors no longer have a free option1 to hike Colorado’s most popular Fourteener during the typical summiting season,2 except for summit county residents. Trailhead parking is $30 Monday through Thursday, and $55 Friday through Sunday and holidays. Or you can take the $7 shuttle from the Breckenridge South Gondola parking area.
By the way — that $7 fee is a lot steeper than it sounds, because it’s per person. That means a family of four needs to pay $28 for a single day of hiking, simply to access the trailhead.
Prophecy Fulfilled
Three years ago, Quandary Magazine predicted that Summit County’s paid access model would absolutely expand to include paid-only access to other trails and outdoor destinations; much like a mountain Disneyland, but for hiking and camping.
(Hence the title: “The Alpine Amusement Park.”)
There are a lot of popular trails in Summit County, especially near Breckenridge; a fact local leadership is acutely aware of. As tourism increases, the shuttle could become the bones of a bigger infrastructure network that links a number of popular hiking spots to the downtown area.
“Other trailheads will be looked at so that the shuttle becomes more of a more comprehensive trail access program than just Quandary,” Mr. Henderson said.3
The Gold Hill and Dredge trails were brought up as potential candidates.
This expansion could usher in a kind of alpine amusement park-style outdoor recreation on toughened-up, high-capacity trails, with Breckenridge at the core.
A study conducted by Doctors Loomis and Keske in 2008, examined exactly how much money visitors spend within 25 miles of the peak they plan to climb. In a previous article, I came up with what I consider to be a reasonable, inflation adjusted number of $113.29 per hiker. If the visitor is staying in a hotel or short-term rental, that number goes up to $358.61.
With the number of visitors we see on these peaks, Quandary is a multi-million dollar tourist attraction, all by itself.
—2022 Prediction from Quandary Magazine
Three years later, it looks like the reservation and shuttle system could expand to Blue Lakes (pages 15-17), Spruce Creek (page 23), and the dispersed camping sites along McCullough Gulch and Spruce Creek roads. Here is a downloadable copy of the Southern Tenmile Range Access Plan (STRAP), for reference.
The kicker here is that Summit County actually needs special permission to expand this system. That’s because both the Blue Lakes and Spruce Creek trailheads are situated on National Forest land, unlike the Quandary Peak trailhead. The plan suggests there are technically three, but probably only two viable solutions to this problem:
Making use of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), the Forest Service collects fees, maintains the sites, handles shuttle operations, and manages the reservation system — but only for the trailheads on forest service land
The Forest Service gives multiple different local jurisdictions a special use permit to maintain the sites within their jurisdiction, and run shuttles and take reservations accordingly
The Forest Service gives Summit County a special use permit to maintain the sites, and run the entire shuttle and reservation system
I strongly suspect that if this proposal is enacted, we will get option three. That’s because it’s the only option which allows a sole operator to collect the fees and manage the program; which is an explicitly stated goal in in the STRAP:
The partners’ goal is to create a management structure where a single entity operates the parking and reservation system across multiple jurisdictions, thereby hopefully reducing confusion for visitors to the area.
—STRAP, page 11
Obviously it’s more convenient to run such a system this way, assuming such a system is actually necessary. The proposal lays out a laundry list of reasons why it is, including an estimated 237,000 visitors each year in the project area, lack of infrastructure, and traffic troubles.
These are real issues. But they are issues that can be resolved without giving Summit County the authority to levy even more fees on hikers. Below is a broad map overview with the proposed changes, some of which are significantly easier to maintain than a seasonal shuttle service.
There is a mixture of upgraded trailheads, expanded parking, and a new network of connector trails could all help balance the load across multiple access points.
Quandary Magazine has long held the research-backed stance that rampant illegal parking tends to have the largest environmental impact, and that fully pay-gating a trail is a an extremely heavy-handed and often unnecessary solution. There are serviceable solutions in this plan that don’t involve the expansion of the Alpine Amusement Park. Let’s take a look:
Quandary-Specific Changes
The changes specifically outlined for Quandary Peak — shuttle aside — actually seem quite good. First and foremost would be the addition of permanent restrooms. This is an amenity a few similarly popular “starter” fourteeners already have
You may disagree with me on this point, but the fact of the matter is that this is an enormously popular destination for hikers, many of whom are climbing a fourteener for the first time. While the vast majority of trails probably don’t need a restroom, it’s a matter of hygienic environmental impact reduction here.
The plan also calls for the first stretch of the trail to be moved so that visitors don’t have to hike along the road. It would also add connecting paths and establish a network with other nearby trails. As I alluded to earlier, this is a fantastic load-balancing change that makes the entire project area more accessible.
The final large change is an absolutely massive parking area expansion, more than doubling the amount of trailhead spaces from 67 to 135. This is a huge change, and I’ll show you why with a little cocktail napkin math:
In 2024, Quandary Peak had a high-end Hiker Use Day4 estimate of 30,000, according to the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, or CFI.
When drawing up their plans for the shuttle, Summit County conducted an extensive survey and estimated that each car in the trailhead lot contains an average of 2.5 people. Summit County’s “peak season” running from June 14th to September 14th consists of 93 days.
93 days × 2.5 people × 67 spaces = 15,577.5 hiker use days
93 days × 2.5 people × 135 spaces = 31,387.5 hiker use days
For those following along at home, 31,387.5 is more than 30,000. Yes, this calculation assumes maximum occupancy in the trailhead lot, but it also assumes that not a single soul climbs from September 15th through June 13th.
To steel-man this argument, I’ve run a more equitable calculation where the parking lot is only at half capacity Monday—Thursday, but everyone carpools with one additional person. With 135 spaces, the lot can still accommodate CFI’s Hiker Use Day estimate.
Why this Matters
Back before Summit County launched the paid reservation and shuttle system, stakeholders also considered the idea of just expanding the parking lot — at an even greater scale than what’s been proposed here. The rationale for launching the pay-to-hike system instead was somewhat predicated on the idea of infinite growth; that more hikers would come every single year.
But that’s not what’s happening…
Forgive the use of the slightly older graph, I haven’t finished my analysis on the 2024 data from CFI yet, and had to use my 2023 graph instead. But at a glance, I can tell you that peak use over the past decade has been remarkably stable, save for the COVID boom.
Fewer people are hiking now, than they were when the reservation system launched. Expanding it to nearby trails is completely unnecessary, especially with a plan in the works to build out enough parking to fully satisfy demand.
Actionable Steps
Right now, the Forest Service is seeking public comment on this proposal until September 15th. I would encourage you to let them know you DO NOT want to see the expansion of further paid reservations and shuttle services, but that you do support the other listed improvements.
Thanks for reading. If you found this update to be interesting, consider sharing this post with a fellow hiker or friend.
You can technically complete the hike by parking at the trailhead lot after 3 p.m., after which parking reservations are no longer enforced. However, we don’t consider this to be a viable option, as it is generally considered unsafe to be above the tree line past noon during this time of year
June 14th through September 14th
Bentley Henderson was, at the time of our interview, the Assistant County Manager. He is currently Garfield County’s Deputy Manager
The reason we don’t just say “30,000 people hiked Quandary last year,” is because the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative’s trail counters have no way of differentiating between repeat hikers.
Hypothetically, it’s possible that almost everyone who hiked Quandary did so twice. That would mean only 15,000 people visited the peak.
“Hiker Use Days” is more accurate. I’ve capitalized it here so that it’s clear this is a distinct unit of measurement.