Since its founding in 2006, Gunnison Trails has helped maintain existing trails, educate users, and create new opportunities for hiking, running and mountain biking throughout Gunnison County. Working alongside agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the nonprofit has grown from a trail maintenance organization into a key steward of the valley’s outdoor culture, championing trail systems as assets that connect people to the outdoors and one another.

Leading that work is Executive Director Tim Kugler, who holds a Master in Environmental Management degree from Western Colorado University with a focus on trail-based recreation. He moved to the Gunnison Valley in 2008 and has been embedded in its outdoor community ever since, joining the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association board of directors in 2010 before taking the helm at Gunnison Trails in 2017.

People-powered healthy trails

Without regular attention, trails inevitably degrade. Trail users begin routing around difficult features and secondary paths form.

“The landscape is always evolving and changing and eroding,” Kugler said. “Gunnison Trails works to maintain our local trails to their original character and difficulty.”

The goal isn’t to make the trail easier but rather to prevent trails from deteriorating to a point where a new trail is created or a reroute is needed. Often when a trail degrades to a certain point, trail users create a go-around to avoid the eroded section, Kugler said.

The result is trail braiding: a web of user-created paths spreading out from the original route. To the untrained eye it may not look like a big deal, but braiding fragments habitat, accelerates erosion and compromises ecosystems.

“With our sort of trails, recreation, outdoor landscapes, a lot of people assume that they kind of just exist in a vacuum,” Kugler said. “Like anything, they very much need maintenance and coordination.”

That maintenance serves as a connection point for people. Through volunteer trail days, stewardship projects, youth employment opportunities and partnerships with local stakeholders, Gunnison Trails provides opportunities for people to work toward a shared goal.

Gunnison Trails averages more than 1,000 volunteer hours annually and provides meaningful employment opportunities through its professional trail crew program.

“The opportunity to volunteer together brings the community together,” Kugler said. “I think that gives people a little bit of ownership and responsibility for the greater landscape.”

Volunteers maintain trails side-by-side, students gain hands-on experience caring for public lands and recreation users become invested in the long-term health of the places they enjoy.

Such gatherings also allows Gunnison Trails to spread the good word of trail etiquette. This is helpful as a reminder for veterans as well as for welcoming newcomers who may not have grown up with the written and unwritten rules. 

The goal is keeping trails enjoyable and safe for everyone.

By creating and caring for the pathways that weave through the district, Gunnison Trails helps strengthen the relationships, health, and sense of belonging in this community.