Officials working to fill the gap of a long-dreamed trail in Colorado have marked “a colossal construction milestone.”

So read a recent social media post by Jefferson County Open Space, showing photos of an underpass, a 70-foot-long box culvert and two bridges beside U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon. These are the latest additions to the Peaks to Plains Trail, what’s been billed as “a truly quintessential Colorado experience” — a foot and bike path to connect the Denver metro area toward the Continental Divide on Loveland Pass.

The so-called Huntsman segment, to span three miles through Clear Creek Canyon, has been in the works since 2022. With the new bridges and more highly technical work to come, the first half of the segment is slated to open before the end of this year, said Scot Grossman, Jefferson County Open Space’s project management supervisor.

Fishers Canyon plan to be considered at upcoming meetings

Peaks to Plains has been a focus of his for the better part of two decades. A 2006 feasibility study more or less paved the way for the concept: a 65-mile trail through four counties and signature scenery.

Among the most signature: Clear Creek Canyon, representing the bulk of 13.5 miles of trail needed through Jefferson County.

“We generally say the plains is done, and everything at the top of the canyon and on, the peaks portion, is either done or passable as shared shoulder” on highways, Grossman said.

In 2017, Jefferson and Clear Creek counties finished segments on the canyon’s western end, mapped as the Up Canyon segment. To the east, connecting Golden to the mouth of the canyon, the Gateway segment was celebrated in 2021 and has since bustled with walkers, runners, cyclists and people bound for climbing walls and points along the creek for floating.

Now comes the Huntsman segment, meeting the end of the Gateway stretch and extending west another three miles. 

“When we finish Huntsman, we’ll have a six-mile gap in our 13.5, so this will take us over the halfway point,” Grossman said. “We’re just little by little chipping away.”

Iconic road up Colorado 14er will be closed this summer

Nothing fast happens in the steep, rugged canyon, he explained. “The ecological, hydrological and geological constraints are immense,” he said.

Hence the bridges that will define much of the Huntsman segment — “viaduct structures like an elevated road,” Grossman said. Similar “on a small scale,” he said, to the “big flyways” seen in renderings for ongoing Interstate 70 construction at Floyd Hill. Or “like the highway through Glenwood Canyon,” he said.

The resulting experience for the visitor on foot or bike: “You’re kind of hovering or floating over everything,” Grossman said. “It’s going to give you a really unique perspective of the canyon.”

At a hefty cost.

Grossman said Huntsman’s three miles would run about $80 million, the majority of that from Jefferson County Open Space’s sales tax fund. Great Outdoors Colorado and other state and federal funds have contributed millions more toward the county’s 13.5 miles of trail.

The total cost has been estimated around $273 million. Critics have balked, as previously reported by The Denver Gazette.

Said Tod Anderson, a county resident of 40 years: “I think it’ll be used certainly, but it’s how much money they are spending on it. What other alternatives are there to where you build that trail?”

Jefferson County open spaces: 10 to explore in the hills west of Denver

“It’s a big number,” Grossman said, granting also “uncertain” economic conditions that could drive up expenses even more.

It’s all worth it to Charlie Myers, representing Bike Jeffco. 

“The word ‘legacy’ really comes to mind here,” Myers said. A major tourist destination comes to mind as well, he said: “I think it’s really going to pay its way back in the end.” 

 And “this is not just a trail,” Grossman said.

“We bought Clear Creek Canyon Park with lots of energy and lots of time, something like 40 land transactions over 20 years … What this project is doing is actually building out Clear Creek Canyon Park, which is in many ways akin to a national park in terms of the effort, the complexity and accessibility of it all.”

The goal is to open the first half of the three-mile Huntsman segment this winter, complete with a parking lot for 40 vehicles.

The other half of the segment, along with a second and larger parking lot, is expected to open next year.

Mountain goats have been a concern on Colorado 14er. Research seeks solutions.