Last summer, after more than eight years of work and nearly two decades of dreaming and planning, the Toll Trail — now renamed the Kinglet trail, after the Ruby-crowned Kinglet — officially opened on the privately owned Tolland Ranch property, west of Nederland.
Conceived in 2005 by a Boulder Mountainbike Alliance board member, the trail was designed to link the West Magnolia trail system to Jenny Creek Road and eventually reach the Continental Divide and beyond — a dream for many riders. Although unsanctioned paths existed, none were legal. The Toll family still owns the land, but through a special agreement with Boulder County, they’ve allowed the trail to be opened for public use.
The five-mile trail has received rave reviews. One rider on Mountain Bike Project described it as probably the “flowiest trail” they’ve ever ridden. It takes three miles of challenging, rocky uphill riding from West Magnolia to reach Kinglet, but most riders agree it’s worth it for the smooth ride and beautiful views of James Peak.
But the trail was intended to do more than just expand the system — it was meant to connect riders to the Continental Divide and link Nederland to Winter Park via Jenny Creek near Rollins Pass.
There’s just one problem: a 600-foot gap on Forest Service land at the end of Kinglet Trail that the agency appears to be in no hurry to help complete.
Last spring, Boulder County contracted Sam Greenburg of Highline Earthworks to build the final section of trail. According to Greenburg, he spent last summer preparing contracts, planning to begin construction in spring 2024. But by fall 2023, the county had informed him the Forest Service had delayed project approval after raising concerns.
Greenburg thought the situation might change over the winter, but it didn’t.
According to Forest Service spokesperson Reid Armstrong, other higher-priority projects kept the connector trail off the Forest Service’s agenda for this fiscal year.
“We have submitted the project for next year’s program of work, including monitoring, scoping and project proposal development, but it hasn’t been approved by Forest leadership yet,” Armstrong told Boulder Reporting Lab.
Part of what makes the project complicated for the Forest Service is that Kinglet Trail is a non-motorized trail. It would need to link to Jenny Creek, which allows motorized traffic. “Our concern is making sure we don’t exacerbate any user conflicts between motorized use and non-motorized use,” Armstrong told BRL last year.
The Forest Service will inform the public when it launches the community engagement portion of the project, Armstrong said.
Mary Olson, the Boulder County landscape architect on the project, said the county “will continue to collaborate with USFS and hopefully restart the process of securing a connection in the future,” she said.
Wendy Sweet, executive director of the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, said the BMA is still pushing for a connector, but the Forest Service “is not responsive to any trail building in the Nederland area at the moment.”
The connection to Jenny Creek is part of BMA’s larger goal to connect Boulder to Winter Park with a single-track trail called the Indian Peaks Traverse. The Kinglet Trail is one of two roadblocks to completing the traverse. The other is a section requiring passage through Eldorado Canyon, a proposal that was denied in 2021. Sweet said nothing more can be done on this section unless Colorado Parks & Wildlife reopens the process, which it has given no indication of doing.
In the meantime, bikers can still enjoy the Kinglet Trail – five miles out and back again.
“Fun, well built blue trail,” a Trailforks user wrote last month. “Will be amazing when it connects to Jenny Creek.”
How would one find actual maps to these trails? Access points, trailheads, more detail about how to access and topography? Thank you
Chris – MTB Project is probably the best. Here’s Kinglet: https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7068096/kinglet
Thank you, Brooke, for reporting on this issue—the Indian Peaks Traverse route could be treasure. I’ve done a Denver to Winter Park version, it is a beautiful, epic ride.
A point of clarification, based on my exploration the trails on both sides of the 600-foot gap between Jenny Creek and WestMag: the Forest Service does not need to complete the trail—it is already there, blocked by a gate (pictured) on one side, with Eldora Mountain Resort on the signage. In fact, you can cross country ski this trail in the winter, as part of the Eldora ski trails (note the Jenny Creek Loop ski sign in the picture). Am I wrong in thinking that the route is only stopped by a lack of permission to cross land owned by Eldora Mountain Resort? And now that Eldora has been purchased by Nederland, can’t we advocate for access? Skiers have access in winter, I don’t know why they are trying to restrict bikers in summer.
I should also note that I encountered both bikers and motorized vehicles coexisting on the Jenny Creek trails (as is common everywhere). I don’t follow the Forest Services logic in blocking access to prevent this kind of intermingling of motorized and non-motorized travelers. Anyone have an update on this impass? -Chris
Riding to Winter Park from Rollinsville was a twice annual tradition for many years. IMHO, the “conflict” between the mountain bikes, hikers and off-road motorcycles is overstated. The motorcycle people are genuinely courteous and prefer to be away from the hikers and mountain bikers to avoid the risk/conflict. By keeping the pass closed, it just forces MORE potential conflict as the hikers tend to stay at the lower levels (simply stated, most can’t hike up that far in a normal day hike). Opening up the WP will drive most of the traffic on the far side of the divide and serve to reduce the congestion below. It may make sense to add some signage to share the trail and slow down around the blind corners and limited sight lines and MOST of the bicyclists and motorcyclists will comply.