Steve Koller bombs down the bottom of the newly created Medicine Trail. Nearby, Trails 2000 is wrapping up work on the Sugar Trail, a 1.5 mile connector between Skyline and the Horse Gulch Road. The new trail will be included as part of the upcoming Todd and Ned’s Durango Dirt Fondo./ Photo by Jennaye Derge

Gearing up

Trails 2000 puts finishing touches on Sugar Trail in time for Dirt Fondo

by Missy Votel

Horse Gulch is about to get a little sweeter. Trails 2000 announced this week it is nearing completion of the Sugar Trail, 1½ miles of new singletrack between Horse Gulch Road and the far end of Raider Ridge. The trail will offer an alternate connection between Skyline Trail and Horse Gulch proper for those not up to the technical task of what has come to be known as the Hyper-Extended Ridge.

“It is going to be sweet, but it happens to be an acronym for Skyline to Horse Gulch Road: ‘SHGR,’” Trails 2000 Executive Director Mary Monroe-Brown said. “When it’s done it will make for a really great loop.”

But just because riders won’t have to contend with the class V terrain that was the showpiece of the 2009 Singlespeed World Championships, it doesn’t mean they won’t have their work cut out for them. During its journey to the top of Skyline, the Sugar Trail climbs 1,100 feet with more than a dozen switchbacks.

But local rider Steve Ilg, who has been working on the trail throughout the summer with Trails 2000, said trail builders are working to ensure the two-way trail will be as much fun coming as going.

“The longer I work on this trail, I’m thinkin’ that Sugar might just become one of our best interval training trails,” he said. “It’s a great warmup either going up Horse Gulch from Durango or up Skyline.”

Ilg said the trail is being built at a gradient that will make it user friendly no matter which way riders are going. “We are making sure the switchbacks remain non-technical for uphill riders and super sweet for the Sugar descent,” he said.

Work on the trail is scheduled to be completed in time for Todd and Ned’s Durango Dirt Fondo, on Sept. 12. The race, which has 50-mile and 30-mile options, commemorates the 25th anniversary of the 1990 World Mountain Bike Championships, which were held at Purgatory. The event is expected to draw cyclists from around the world, including some legends well known closer to home, John Tomac and Julie Furtado.

Work on the Sugar Trail began in earnest about six weeks ago, Monroe-Brown said, but volunteers are needed to complete the trail on time. “It’s about 70 percent done,” she said.

The land on which the trail sits was part of a 113-acre deal the City of Durango struck last year with former property owner, Jake Dalla. The $672,800 for the parcel came from the city’s half-cent parks, open space and trails sales tax, which was recently renewed.

“When we designed the Skyline Trail, it was designed to have another connector,” said Monroe-Brown. “But at that time, the land was under private ownership.”

 She said when the city and Tails 2000 first negotiated an easement with Dalla for the Hyper Extended Ridge in 2008, he was “super generous” and supportive of the idea of trails. “He always wanted it to be done responsibly,” she said.

Trails 2000 will be hosting a work day on the Sugar Trail from 3 - 7 p.m. Fri., Aug. 21. Monroe-Brown said people should meet at the end of Horse Gulch Road and can access it from either the north or south end. “We could really use the help,” she added.

The work on the Sugar Trail punctuates what has been a busy trail season for the group. In addition to the Sugar Trail, it completed the new progressive Medicine Trail, also on Raider Ridge, as well as the Chapman Flow Trail.

“The Chapman trails are really fun,” Monroe-Brown said. In addition to the flow trail, there is also a jump trail and a kids area. “I think it’s going to get a lot of use.”

Meanwhile, work is still continuing on the Purgatory flow trail, which Monroe-Brown described as “almost done.”

Trails 2000 has been doing plenty of work off the trails this summer as well. It recently launched its new mobile map, which is available online or on smartphone via the Trails 2000 website. The interactive map features more than 500 miles of trail in and around Durango, as well as elevation profiles, trail information, the ability to save maps as PDFs as well as real-time location in relation to the trails. The map was developed by volunteer GIS expert James Gustine, with the help of a grant from mapping software company Esri.

Monroe-Brown said the map is still a work in progress, and invites trail users to weigh in with comments and suggestions.

Looking down the trail, Trails 2000 is planning for the Durango Land Symposium, set for Fri., Sept. 11. The event, also held in tandem with the World’s 25th anniversary, is meant to “celebrate trail progress” since the historic 1990 races. Open to 100 attendees, the day will feature guest speaker Luis Benitez, director of the newly created Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office. Deadline to sign up is Aug. 25.

To sign up for the  Symposium or for more information on it or Trails 2000, go to www.trails2000.org.