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Idaho Springs gets funding to complete Virginia Canyon Mountain Park
BY DEBORAH SWEARINGEN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Idaho Springs has received the additional $250,000 it needs to complete trail construction at Virginia Canyon Mountain Park.
e grant, which comes from the Trek Foundation, will be used to construct the second phase of the project, moving along Rosa Gulch to the west.
Costs for the work have increased, with current estimates indicating an additional $650,000 is needed to complete the project. An agreement with the Mighty Argo team will account for $400,000 of the gap with the Trek grant covering the remainder.
Virginia Canyon Mountain Park, which is on land given to Idaho Springs by Clear Creek County in 1999, covers 400 acres and is north of the city above Argo Mine and Mill. e project is a collaboration between Idaho Springs and the Colorado Mountain Bike Association, known as COMBA.
According to COMBA, approximately 12 miles of trail are planned, and it will ultimately o er a combination of multi-use trails as well as those speci cally designated for hikers or cyclists.
“As time has passed, the trail project has gotten more expensive with in ation and all of that kind of thing that’s been happening,” Assistant City Administrator Jonathan Cain said in a June 26 Idaho Springs City Council work session. “So there has been an e ort by COMBA to nd some additional funding that can be used for the trails.”
“ is is the piece we need to nish this up and get where we’re going — with the Argo money, of course,” COMBA Director Gary Moore added in a June 26 Idaho Springs City Council work session.
In the work session, the City Council supported moving forward with the grant and agreed to two conditions set by the Trek Foundation: e system will be named “Trek Trails at Virginia Canyon Mountain Park” and the park will include branded signage at Trek’s expense. at is “big for us,” Assistant City Administrator Jonathan Cain noted, considering it will mean an additional $30,000 worth of signage to place in the park. e Trek Foundation, part of Trek Bicycles, was established in 2021 to help protect land, develop trail systems for public use and provide more riders access to places to ride, according to its website. e rst portion of Virginia Canyon Mountain Park opened in 2022 and included two segments of trail – one that runs from from the Argo
Mill property in the south to a termination point in the vicinity of Santa Fe Mine Road and another than runs from the “saddle” in the middle of the park to the southernmost peak, according to the meeting packet.
Last summer, Idaho Springs received nearly $360,000 from Great Outdoors Colorado to begin building phase two of the project, including about 3.4 miles of intermediate bike trails. e city has committed $62,500 in matching funds with an in-kind match of about $36,000 from e Trek grant felt like a win for the City Council members, all of whom expressed support.
COMBA and Nederland-based nonpro t TEENS, Inc.
“I think it’s a no-brainer,” council member Scott Pennell said.
According to Cain, the city will begin working on a request for proposals for trail construction this summer with construction tentatively beginning in the fall.
