A new 300 mile trail takes hikers from Estes Park to Glenwood Springs
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ESTES PARK, Colo. — The Colorado Trail travels nearly 500 miles from Denver to Durango, spanning eight mountain ranges and countless thigh-burning climbs, but the trail never ventures north of Denver.
Kevin Silvernale thinks hikers are missing out.
Silvernale — an avid backpacker who lives in Loveland — mapped a new thru-hike that links 300 miles of existing trails and roads between Estes Park and Glenwood Springs. It’s a tour of the region’s greatest hits, taking hikers through Rocky Mountain National Park, the Flat Tops Wilderness and Devil’s Causeway.
He’s calling the route the “Northern Colorado Trail.”
Silvernale first mapped the route in 2023. Last August, he hiked it for the first time. The route’s website offers free maps, waypoints and trip planning resources.
Silvernale, 35, grew up in Seattle and moved to Colorado in 2012. He hopes that making the route accessible will help others explore the region and support towns along the route.
“Even to this day, I still feel that hesitation of sharing it,” said Silvernale, who's cognizant of the impacts, both good and bad, foot traffic can bring.
Many of the state’s top attractions, from Hanging Lake to Conundrum Hot Springs, are being “loved to death.”
Although Silvernale didn’t physically construct any new miles of trail, his maps and guide provide a clear path for hikers to link distant tracts of public lands, while offering access to resupply points in towns like Walden. Because the route connects existing roads and trails, it didn’t require approval from land managers or local governments.
“Routes need no official permitting process, no federal oversight, no environmental reviews; they exist on trails that already went through that process when they were built and have to pass that process to be worked on or maintained,” explained Paul Talley, director of the Colorado Trail Foundation, in a written statement.
Talley said that the idea to start the Colorado Trail further north, likely in Fort Collins, was discussed in the 1970s, but because the trail’s volunteers were largely based in Golden and because Denver would be easier to market, Denver was chosen as the trail’s northern terminus.
“I'm not sure a trail like the Colorado Trail could be built in today's environment in the same timeframe,” said Talley.
Although spending weeks away from the trappings of modern life doesn’t appeal to everyone, Silvernale said that it’s these challenges that make hiking so rewarding.
“When I come home and tell my family about it, it's not always pleasant moments that I'm telling them about. It's the hard moments or the awe-inspiring moments,” said Silvernale. “You learn to appreciate things so much more from going through those hard moments.”
Silvernale caught the thru-hiking bug in 2016 when he completed the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs 2,650 miles through California, Oregon and Washington. He later hiked the Appalachian Trail, parts of the Continental Divide Trail and Colorado Trail.
But unlike past hikes, Silvernale couldn’t rely on beta from previous hikers to validate the location of reliable water sources or the best camping spots when he first attempted his new route last fall.
Roads that appeared public on his map were sometimes marked with “no trespassing” signs. Silvernale amended the route in spring 2025 to avoid two tracts of private land near Walden and Yampa.
Assembling such a route would’ve been unthinkable without public land, said Silvernale.
Widespread opposition to Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) plan to sell off two to three million acres of federal public land in 11 western states emphasized the value public lands provide to people across the political spectrum.
“You don’t just lose the land you’re selling. Sometimes you lose the access to the land behind it,” said Silvernale.
Silvernale’s route travels through a mix of public lands, including a national park, state park, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service.
Unlike the Colorado Trail, which is largely maintained by volunteer trail crews organized by the Colorado Trail Foundation, the Northern Colorado Trail will rely on trail crews already operating within public land areas to care for trails.
Federal budget cuts and mass layoffs could limit the reach of trail maintenance projects, even those carried out by volunteers.
Silvernale said that trail conditions are good along much of the route, but the section in the northwest portion of Rocky Mountain National park suffers from down trees that burned during the East Troublesome and Cameron Peak fires of 2020.
Coby Corkle, owner of Corkle’s Mini Mart in Walden, a convenience store which sells snacks, fishing tackle and moose themed souvenirs, said he would be excited for the additional business hikers could bring.
“This community needs more stimulation, economically,” said Corkle, who also serves as the Jackson County Commissioner.
The cost of living and lack of housing has put additional pressure on Walden residents.
During hunting season, visitors flood the town’s hotels, but Walden has struggled to compete with the state’s more famous locales, like Steamboat.
“We’re surrounded by mountains, but they’re 20 miles away,” said Corkle.
Corkle does worry about how hikers will reach Walden safely. Many of the roads in Jackson County are two lane highways without a shoulder.
Oak Creek mayor, Melissa Dobbins, said she’s “very excited about the idea of a long distance trail” coming through or close to Oak Creek. Oak Creek currently sits along an alternate route, but Silvernale said that the Northern Colorado Trail is likely to change as more people hike it.
“I have spent a lot of time in trail communities, and I can tell you that hikers bring a vibrancy and a life to communities. Not to mention, the economic benefits of having people come through and spending money and staying,” said Dobbins.
Silvernale plans to hike the trail again this summer and is working on a guidebook that will compile resources for future hikers.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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