Often when Susan Davies runs into some of Colorado Springs' bigwigs, including Mayor John Suthers, they ask about the status of Ring the Peak.
"It just sort of makes me smile," said the executive director of Trails and Open Space Coalition (TOSC), the nonprofit leading the vaunted mission to complete a loop trail around Pikes Peak.
Davies smiles "because my gosh, they're still thinking about it," she said. "But I don't think they know, unfortunately, how many times they're gonna have to ask that question in the years to come."
Yes, the realization of a dream born in the 1990s remains years away.
In 2016, Ring the Peak gained momentum with then-Gov. John Hickenlooper listing it within his "16 in '16" initiative — 16 "high-priority" trail projects across Colorado to receive high-level funding for completion. The designation granted TOSC $100,000 to hire a consultant to launch a master planning process. Federal, state and local land managers around Cripple Creek and Victor were convened to solve the gap in Ring the Peak's 63-mile horseshoe.
"That was huge," Davies says. "Now we need a governor or a god or a president or someone to step up and say, 'OK, we got a plan. Now, Forest Service we need you to do this, Teller County we need you to do this and (Colorado Department of Transportation) we need you on this piece.'"
Town leaders on Pikes Peak's southwest side held firm against a proposed segment near drinking water sources and sites of private fishing clubs — a segment seen as the simplest, most scenic solution to the 7-mile gap. Planners resorted to an alignment mapped as 20-plus miles, crossing several jurisdictions.
One end is to spring near the switchbacks along the popular trail to Pancake Rocks. That is where Davies found herself a couple of months ago, scouting possibilities with a U.S. Forest Service representative.
And that is where another to-do was identified, Davies said. Steep parts of the path showed signs of erosion. So her organization agreed to seek money for maintenance.
"That was not part of the scope," Davies said. "But at the same time, the Forest Services is an important partner — much of the land we want to build trail on is their land — so it behooves us to be a good partner."
The goal is to finish work in the spring or summer, she said, "and then see if we can't get moving again" on new trail construction. Fixing existing trail is "the right thing to do," Davies said. Still, she said: "It kind of feels like two steps forward, one step back."
Seen as a thru-hiking and -biking destination and regional economic resource once finished, Davies said she sensed collective enthusiasm enduring for Ring the Peak.
"But boy," she said, "it feels like the turtle and the hare, and we're the turtle."
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'Two steps forward, one step back' for dream trail around Pikes Peak - OutThere Colorado
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