Grand Lake Grows its Gateway Community Programming With New Events and Offerings
By Katie Hearsum, Grand Lake CDT Community Ambassador
The Town of Grand Lake, Colorado, became a designated CDTC Gateway Community in 2017, starting with a simple information kiosk and annual fundraiser to auction off local goods and services to raise money for the CDTC. Since then their outreach efforts have grown to include monthly on-trail activities, an anniversary party in the park, several volunteer trail maintenance events and a community center “campground” just for thru-hikers.
Gateway Garden Cleanup – Since 2022, volunteers gather several times a year to do light trail maintenance work on a section of the CDT that goes directly through downtown Grand Lake. These projects are designed for easy to moderate abilities and are accessible for all ages and mobility levels. In the spring, as part of their end of year service work, a group of highschoolers come to Grand Lake to pick up litter, stain wooden structures, pull weeds, move rocks, and fix drainage located along the “Gateway Garden”. This garden is a short section of the trail located at the north entrance to Town that offers a warm welcome for SOBO hikers with beautiful views of the lake and charming trailside accents like garden beds and a decorative archway. They also get the Town’s information kiosk cabin sparkling clean and stocked with CDT maps and stickers for the upcoming busy summer tourist season.
First Friday Hikes – Grand Lake’s local ambassador led five monthly “First Friday” community day hikes from June through October, an event that has greatly grown in popularity since it was first introduced in 2022. Each outing is suited for all ages and skill levels and introduces participants to a different CDT section and trailhead access, most of which are within one mile of downtown Grand Lake. These regular group hikes have become so popular that in 2024, we had to require advanced registration (online) and limit each event to only 12 attendees.
Designation Day Party – This year, the Town of Grand Lake held its first “Designation Day” party in July to celebrate the sixth anniversary of becoming an official CDT Gateway Community. The Grand Lake ambassador set up a table in Town Park with CDT information, stickers and custom-made sugar cookies featuring the CDT logo on display. Attendees and passersby were also able to enter a raffle for prizes like gift certificates to local businesses and CDT gear like hats, patches and pins. Other recreational partners also had table displays including the U.S. Forest Service, Shadowcliff Lodge/Hostel and DarkSky Colorado.
National Public Lands Day (NPLD) – Grand County boasts one of the largest NPLD volunteer events in the country, and each year Grand Lake participates with its popular “Boardwalk Branding” event, an easy trail maintenance project where participants walk the town’s historic wooden boardwalk with a branding iron and hand-held blow torch to stamp the trail with the CDT emblem. These “blazes support wayfinding through town along the trail, but over time they wear down from foot traffic and weather, requiring the need for re-stamping each year.
Community Center Campground – In the summer of 2024, the Town of Grand Lake council approved a Special Use Permit to allow thru-hikers to camp overnight at the Grand Lake Center, the town-owned community center located just steps from the CDT. Situated near the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Lake is a popular summer destination that becomes easily overwhelmed with visitors, especially over the Independence Day holiday, which coincidentally is also when the “bubble” of northbound hikers typically arrives in the area. Permitting tenting on the community center’s large outdoor field for just $10 provided an ideal solution for reasonably-priced, first-come-first-serve overnight lodging for trail users. The facility also served as a “meetup” spot for hikers to find camaraderie, local information and on-site amenities like a hiker box, Wi-Fi, package delivery and indoor restrooms (bathrooms only–no showers). Thanks to a partnership with the Headwaters Trails Alliance, a local trail maintenance non-profit, our campground even provided a bear box for safe food storage!
This “Community Center Campground” program was incredibly successful and well-received by both local residents and thru-hikers alike, and more than 120 campers utilized the program from July through September. Not only did this program provide peace of mind to thru-hikers worrying about if they would be able to find a place to stay in Grand Lake when they arrived, but it also reduced the amount of illegal “stealth camping” on town property throughout the season ( especially in July), which improved community relations.
Plans for 2025: While the winter season is slower in Grand Lake, planning has already started for 2025 programs and events. Not only do these kinds of initiatives support visitors to the Continental Divide Trail, but they also provide benefits to local community members and businesses. CDTC sends a big thank you to all the Grand Lake Gateway Community volunteers who make these efforts possible, especially local CDT Ambassador Katie Hearsum!
If you are interested in supporting Grand Lake or any other Gateway Communities programs in Colorado, please reach out to Jordan Williams at [email protected].
