In 2016, community leader Lee Rimel got a phone call that changed Eagle County’s trails forever. A U.S. Forest Service (USFS) employee tipped him off quietly. The budget had been cut, and without funding for a summer ranger, 26 trained trail workers would have no supervision and no coordinated trail work that season. Rimel called
On a July morning at a Wilderness trailhead in the Vail Valley, the parking lot fills faster than most people expect. By 7 a.m. there are a handful of cars. By 9 the lot is full. By 10, vehicles stretch down the road in both directions. The people heading up the trail come from everywhere:
Trails Are More Than Recreation Last week, I went for a trail run on East Lake Creek. It felt great to be in Wilderness, moving along the traversing trail through a beautiful aspen stand with birds singing as happy as can be and lupines and larkspur just starting to bloom. The sound of the creek
By Ernest Saeger Fire season in Eagle County is part of the deal. Those of us who live and play here know the rhythm: restrictions go up, plans shift, and when the smoke clears, we get back outside. What most people have not considered is that the trails we hike, run, and ride on could
By Ernest Saeger This spring has come on fast. The valley is drying out early, and every trail in Eagle County looks like it should be open. So when you pull up to a trailhead and find a gate, the timing feels especially rough. You drove out here with a perfectly good plan, and the
How Many Users? A lot. And the numbers back that up. From January through March, our trail counters recorded more than 7,000 counts on Berry Creek Road and more than 3,000 counts on Lower Berry Creek Trail. That is about a 25% increase over the same three month period compared to the past five years.
VVMTA Monthly Vail Daily Column: April 1, 2026 Above photo of Boneyard trail from February 14, 2026. It has been hard to wrap my head around the lack of snow and the warm weather we experienced this winter. It has brought up a lot of emotions for me, like anxiety, fear, anger, and unrest. My
Our 2025 Annual Report is here. In a year that brought real challenges for trails, public lands, and the partners who help steward them, this community showed up in a big way with stewardship, advocacy, and impact across the valley. Read the full report below to see what we accomplished together and where we are
Connecting Community, Stewarding Trails, Leading with Purpose We are pleased to share the VVMTA 2025 to 2030 Strategic Plan, a focused roadmap that reflects where we are headed and what it will take to get there. This plan builds on a strong foundation of community support. Each year, our community contributes thousands of volunteer hours,
Arrowhead & Beaver Creek Seasonal Wildlife Closures From December 1 through April 15, Arrowhead, Beaver Creek, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife has implemented a seasonal wildlife closure on three Arrowhead area trails: Ute Dakota Apache (East side) We strongly support these seasonal closures as an important step to protect critical winter habitat for local wildlife.
The Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance is excited to offer a full-time Development Director position. The Development Director is VVMTA’s lead fundraiser, responsible for growing philanthropic revenue through relationship-based fundraising. This role builds and manages a portfolio of donors and potential donors, develops and executes an annual fundraising plan, leads donor-centered fundraising events, including the
This past year felt different. In Eagle County and across our trails and public lands, it often felt like every time we turned around there was something new to respond to. A plan to reorganize the Forest Service. Staffing cuts and shrinking budgets. A new transmission line proposal. Changes to camping in Homestake. A push
This year was a powerful reminder of what we can accomplish together for the trails and public lands we love. As a community, we put more people, more care, and more heart on the ground than ever before, and the impact is visible from Eagle to Vail and beyond. One of the proudest milestones was
From bike parks to bridges, from skinnies to sustainable drainage. Is there anything this crew can’t handle? As we look back on the Trail Conservation Crew’s 2025 season, I’m amazed at the breadth of work this crew is capable of. The TCC will be entering its sixth season in 2026 and this crew no longer
The Eagle County Youth Corps (ECYC) debuted this summer, giving local 16-18 year old high schoolers a real field experience in stewardship and recreation management, and a clear first step toward outdoor careers. They arrived as students, and they left as stewards. The first season of the ECYC proved what happens when local youth take
The Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance (VVMTA) and EagleVail Metropolitan District (EVMD) are thrilled to share continued progress on the EagleVail Trail Extension. This 1.64 mile addition will connect the existing EagleVail Trail westward to the Beaver Creek roundabout in Avon, creating a continuous, non motorized trail for hikers, runners, bikers, dog walkers, and more.
It is that time of the year when we begin to trade in bike shoes and trail runners for ski boots and layers of winter gear. It is the familiar change of seasons in the mountains, a reminder that as we move from one outdoor adventure to the next, we also take time to look
September has wrapped the trails in gold, with aspen leaves shimmering and crisp mountain air adding extra magic to every mile. Volunteers have been out embracing the season—digging, clearing, and giving back while surrounded by the colors of fall. Here’s to celebrating everything we’ve accomplished together so far this season: Number of Volunteer Events: 115
