Trails are set to expand around an iconic mountain in southern Colorado.

Fishers Peak State Park Manager Crystal Dreiling said the park’s next “trail package” would soon go out to bid — a project adding about 10 miles to the network that has steadily grown around the flat-top mountain overlooking Trinidad.

The aim is to break ground this summer, Dreiling said. Once complete — likely sometime in 2026, she said — the trail system will span about 26 miles, including the long summit path that opened near the end of 2023.

A master plan envisions up to 100 miles of trail across Colorado’s second-largest state park, sprawling 19,200 acres.

“We’re getting to that point where we’re gonna have enough mileage to where people can actually make a couple of days out of it,” Dreiling said.

Some, she knows, would prefer to make a couple of days out of the hike to the top of Fishers Peak; the out-and-back route covers close to 17 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation. Along with the next trail construction, the aim is to establish the park’s first backcountry campsites, Dreiling said.

And the project will open the park’s first equestrian trails. The multi-use additions will connect to old ranch roads roaming the previously private property.

“Ten miles doesn’t sound like a lot for equestrians, but it’s building those trails to connect to existing ranch roads, which will be open to equestrians only,” Dreiling said.

A new loop will offer an alternate return from the out-and-back venture to the mountaintop. The upper part of the route is seasonally closed for raptors nesting along the cliffs.

“From March 15 to the end of July, people are headed toward the peak and hit a dead-end closure and they have to double back on the same trail,” Dreiling said. “So I wanted to build that loop sooner than later to discourage people from violating that closure and give people a different view.”

Dreiling said she has also wanted a beginner mountain biking course.

“Especially for the locals, so they can learn to mountain bike and not just have a park in their backyard that is only for intermediate to advanced mountain biking,” she said. “We think we’ve found a spot where we can do that in this next round of trails.”