An Effort to Identify All Major CDT Road Crossings along Highways and Byways in Colorado
By: Jordan Williams, CDTC Colorado Regional Representative
Many years ago, when I first drove over Kenosha Pass along US Highway 285 in Colorado, I remember seeing a sign for a Colorado Trail crossing at the top of the pass. I thought to myself, “That must be an important trail to get its own highway sign!”
After hiking the Colorado Trail (CT) from Denver to Durango in 2018 and simultaneously completing hundreds of miles of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), I realized that Kenosha Pass was one of the only places to mark these important trail crossings along the highways and byways in the state. When I was lucky enough to land a job at the Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC) as the Colorado Regional Representative, I began to look for ways to partner with other organizations and agencies to help remedy this missed opportunity.
Hope Pass, Colorado
I know many people probably ignore the signage clutter of our roads and cities–we are all overstimulated! But if National Parks, National Forests, and National Historic Sites can have their own brown signs, why not National Scenic Trails (NSTs)? The Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways program already does a great job of highlighting beautiful road tours in the state that also coincide with several National Historic Trails (NHTs). However, NSTs like the CDT are typically not co-located with roads and byways like many NHTs. Instead, the CDT intersects some of the busiest and most beautiful mountain passes and trailheads in the state.
Although the CDT rivals or exceeds other famous cross-continental trails like the Pacific Crest and Appalachian Trails in challenge, solitude, and picturesque views, it is still somewhat lesser-known than its older Triple Crown siblings. While only a couple hundred people each year complete the CDT in one go (aka “thru-hiking”), thousands of people visit popular CDT trailheads in Colorado each year at places like Berthoud Pass, Monarch Pass, and Wolf Creek Pass. In fact, according to a 2022 Visitor Use Monitoring Report in the White River National Forest, 23,984 users were estimated to use a portion of the CT/CDNST within the east side of the Camp Hale–Continental Divide National Monument. Based on previous visitor surveys, many of these day and section user groups who step onto the CDT do not know they are adventuring along a National Scenic Trail.
Bearing in mind that many people aren’t familiar with the CDT, I started undertaking a signage project to identify all major CDT road crossings in Colorado. Fun Fact–there are sixteen of them! Of those, seven are located on Scenic Byways. After identifying the crossings, CDTC staff started reaching out to our Forest Service partners, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), and local communities to hone in on which locations to prioritize. Every crossing is a bit unique; pedestrian safety issues are key in some areas, while others have more of a focus on trailhead parking and access challenges.
Thanks to support from the Forest Service and the Winchester Trailblazer Fund, we were able to fabricate an initial printing of one-way and two-way crossing CDT signs that would allow us to target most of these priority areas.
Starting in Spring of 2024, we began distributing the signs to our partners in Northern and Southern Colorado. Now the signs are being installed! It is an ongoing effort to sign all the different roads and byways, but we are slowly working our way across Colorado with the hope of expanding to other CDT states.
Cumbres Pass two way crossing on Highway 17 in Southern Colorado
Follow along with our progress at the map below as we also look to improve important trailhead signage for the CDT.
If you have suggestions for community needs, such as signage and access, please submit them here. And if you would like to support this program directly, please consider a donation here.
***A special thanks to Lenore Bates from the Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways program, the Winchester Trailblazer Fund, and all the amazing people at CDOT and the Forest Service for their time and support of this effort! Additionally, we couldn’t do it without our amazing Colorado Gateway Community volunteers.
