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Trailhead opens to public July 3
With the upcoming opening of the Sharptail Ridge Open Space, Douglas County hikers have nearly unlimited new access to miles of trails on county, state and federal lands.
By By:Sean Hadden
County open space officials showcased almost 12 miles of new trails June 5 during an open house at the Sharptail Trailhead.
The trailhead officially opens to the public July 3, said county natural resource specialist Jackie Sanderson.
Between 200 and 250 hikers and horseback riders attended the open space and trail dedication, she said.
To get to the new trailhead, take U.S. 85 to Titan Parkway and go west. From there it is about two miles to Roxborough Park Road.
Turn south there and travel another 3.7 miles until reaching the trailhead parking lot on the left.
Once at the trailhead, hikers can travel through four miles of high prairie through the Sharptail Ridge Open Space before transitioning into more alpine terrain along the Swallowtail Trail, which passes through the Nelson Ranch Open Space.
That trail is about 2.7 miles, she said.
The Swallowtail Trail connects to the Ringtail Trail, which begins on the Nelson Ranch property and continues into the Pike Hill Open Space, acquired by the county in 2003, Sanderson said.
From the Ringtail Trail, hikers can access the Pike National Forest's extensive Indian Creek trail system, which consists of many miles of trails.
As of now, mountain bikers cannot access the Sharptail open space from the trailhead because the area has been designated as a natural area by the state, Sanderson said.
And a short section of the Swallowtail trail is off limits to mountain bikers because it crosses through Roxborough State Park land, said county open space director Cheryl Matthews.
Access to Roxborough is limited to hikers, said Angel Tobin, an interpretive ranger at the park.
The county is attempting to gain access for mountain bikers to the Sharptail Trail and the short section of the Swallowtail Trail that bisects state park land, she said.
And officials are negotiating to allow horses onto the short section through the state park, Sanderson said.
But the issue has been tabled for now, Tobin said.
The county is still finishing the facilities at the trailhead, but plans to have everything complete before the July 3 opening, Sanderson said.
A rustic log cabin structure and a series of interpretive signs will greet visitors, she said.
The structure will have electricity and the signs will tell of the wildlife in the open space.
The property takes its name from the sharptail grouse, a prairie bird native to the area.
"Sharptail grouse have historically inhabited the area," Sanderson said. "But they haven't been seen in the last couple of years."
She said if it is determined the birds no longer inhabit the area, the county may team in the future with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce the birds.
The three open spaces that comprise the new trails are also home to many other types of wildlife.
Elk and deer are abundant, Sanderson said, and bears and mountain lions also are not uncommon.
For the dedication, a number of groups of hikers traversed from Roxborough State Park to the new Sharptail trailhead dedication.
"One of the early groups saw a mountain lion this morning," Sanderson said.
And horseback riders Gwyn Davis, of Black Forest, and Pamela Richardson-Jones, of Elizabeth, saw a bear cub during their ride, they said.
"I saw a horny toad and a rattlesnake," Sanderson said of her hike through the new trails.
Finally, the dung beetles that inhabit the area must have thought manna came down from heaven as they formed horse manure into little balls and rolled them off to their prairie burrows.
Building the more than 11 miles of trails through the three open spaces cost about $140,000, Matthews said.
The county received a trails grant of $163,000 from the state to pay for that work, Sanderson said.
Building the structure and parking lot at the trailhead cost about $225,000, she said.
That money came from the open space sales tax, which is one penny for every $10 spent in the county, Sanderson said.
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