With all signs pointing to spring around Grand Lake, Town Hall Manager Jim White admits he’s eager to take his mountain bike out of storage.
“It’s time to bring out the bike – take it off the wall and put it out on the street again,” said White.
For the first time ever, mountain bikers will get a chance to bike through a scenic trail that runs through Rocky Mountain National Park.
“With spring coming, we are looking forward to some of the summer activities, of course, we have mountain biking now in the Rocky Mountain National Park,” said White.
While millions of people drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park each year, mountain biking has never been allowed along the trails until now.
“They just opened a new two-mile trail on the East Shore Trail so we are excited about that,” said White.
The trail runs along the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. Town planner Nate Shull hopes it will have a lot more people riding into town.
“With Rocky Mountain National Park having such prominence here I think adding that extension is going to be big for bringing more people,” said Shull.
And while it’s only a few miles, White says it could be the start for rolling out more mountain biking in Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park.
“You have to start somewhere,” White said. “If you get it started that can lead to expansions of that same trail and I hope that’s what this is.”
This spring, trail crews will work to get the trail ready, then it will open to biking.
It’s in a section of RMNP that’s not designated as wilderness, which is why biking is being tried out.
