This short but critical pedestrian/bicycle trail under US24 is the key to connecting trails and recreation on the east side of the Arkansas (and the high-speed highway) to big expanses of Forest Service and BLM public lands on the west side of the valley in southern Lake County. After three years of permitting, engineering design and largely volunteer labor, the Crossroads is now formally open. It's significance to the GARNA-sponsored Stage and Rail project is that we can now proceed to consultations with the BLM, USFS, Lake County and the City of Leadville, leading eventually to designation and signing of some 14 additional miles of the S&R route all the way from AHRA's Hayden Reservoir site to the Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville. Those miles are not yet signed but will lie along open and already available Forest and county public roads.

In late 2020 and early 2021, in conjunction with its municipal and county partners, the Stage and Rail Trail project obtained formal approval and signed two major sections of the 70-mile hiking/driving/biking trail from Salida to Leadville in Chaffee County. The project, sponsored by GARNA, has been underway for more than a decade, and is steadily making progress. In 2016 it was recognized as one of Colorado’s 16 top priority regional trails under then Governor Hickenlooper’s Colorado the Beautiful Program https://cpw.state.co.us/trails-strategic-plan At its southern end, the City of Salida and Chaffee County approved a nine-mile section on country roads, city streets and city trails from US50 north through Salida and west to join US285. Rhe multiuse trail generally follows the historic route of the old stage road from where it crossed the Arkansas near Cleora, through town and west along the south side of the river out to Big Bend. In its midsection, the Town of Buena Vista and Chaffee County approved and signed a thirteen-mile section from US285/24 in Johnson Village north through the town and further north along the Arkansas River’s East bank along CR371 to its junction with US24. In this history-rich section the trail alternatively follows the old stage road or the historic route of the Colorado Midland Railroad.

April 20, 2016 – Stage and Rail Trail receives Colorado Parks and Wildlife Trails program grant for beginning Phase 1 development of the trail.  GARNA has just been notified it will receive $26,000 to cover the first of an anticipated two years’ work on Phase 1 implementation of the Stage and Rail Trail. These funds will be augmented by cash and in-kind matching funds from local partners and the privately-contributed S&RT Support Fund. As early as late summer 2016, the Stage and Rail team will take critical steps necessary to begin this multi-year 64-mile trail project. Chief among these is contracting a professional Project Coordinator and convening the trail coordination body under GARNA that is anticipated in the draft Master Plan. With this coordination structure in place, the potential management partners – Lake and Chaffee Counties, the towns of Salida, Buena Vista and Leadville, the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area and its BLM co-managers, and the Leadville District of the US Forest Service San Isabel NF – will be encouraged to formally designate the trail within their jurisdictions. View a press release covering the award announcement. Meanwhile the S&RT is engaging with the Interagency Trails Council that Governor Hickenlooper has established to facilitate state-level assistance to the 16 Trails in 2016 (see below). A presentation was made to that Council April 11 in Denver which included a summary and identification of remaining challenges and areas in which assistance from the Council will be appreciated. On that Council are top-level representatives of state agencies including DNR’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks, GOCO, DOLA, CDOT, the Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry, Colorado Pedals and others. Areas the S&RT is requesting assistance on include provision of GOCO funding for conservation easements on some private lands along the S&RT, funding for physical development activities beyond Phase 1, and encouragement to the Union Pacific Railroad to allow some use of their rights of way for the S&RT and other recreational proposals. Stay tuned to this page for updates during the summer while we finalize the first year budget and activities!

Jan. 20, 2016 — Stage & Rail Trail named by Gov. John Hickenlooper as one of the state’s highest priority trail projects as part of Colorado the Beautiful’s “16 in 2016” initiative . The Stage & Rail Trail / GARNA team is extremely excited to announce that the Colorado Governor’s office has recognized the Arkansas River Stage & Rail Trail and the tremendous efforts put forth during the now 8-year, volunteer-led effort. The visibility brought by this considerable honor will provide a welcome incentive for all the trail’s partners to work together to make this long-developing concept become a reality. Read the full press release .