Trails Planning

Telluride Trails Planning

Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC) has been involved in regional trails planning since 2015. It all started with a simple survey to understand the community’s vision for trails in and around Telluride. We used the survey results to formulate and compile a Trails Proposal which was submitted in the summer of 2017. In 2019, Telluride Mountain Club  completed and released a Trails Sustainability Plan with regional partners which inventories current trails and identifies locations for new trails and connectors that compliment the existing trail system. TMtC extends a huge thanks to our partners for helping make this plan a reality: San Miguel County, Town of Mountain Village, San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), and the Telluride Foundation.

In 2022, TMtC formally submitted a new list of dream trails to the USFS. This list is being internally vetted by the USFS before moving to the next stages. Some trails are more than likely to not make it to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. We plan to use a third-party contractor, SE Group, to help with the project and NEPA analysis. This process will likely take 18 months and our expenses are estimated to be $250,000.

TMtC has signed an MOU with the USFS to take on the funding and building for our approved Eider to Mill Creek Connector Trail (from our 2017 Trails Proposal). TMtC had a successful fundraising campaign during the spring of 2022. Corridor clearing will kick off the project, followed by construction, machine operation, and finishing work. If Mother Nature and weather cooperate, TMtC hopes to have the entire project completed and opened to the public sometime in the fall of 2022. This trail project is slated to cost the club $90,000.

TMtC needs your support to keep our trail projects moving forward. Please consider helping to support our regional trails initiatives. You can donate to the club here.