Outdoor Trail Etiquette – Learning through Trail Work
Outdoor Trail Etiquette was learned through Trail Work on Quandary Peak – an Eye Opening and Rewarding Endeavor
By Shauna Farnell
A toast to Quandary Peak …
Hiking up a trail, most of us don’t often think about what goes into building and maintaining it. Afterall, trails effortlessly blend into the landscape, winding through pine trees, curving up switchbacks, over boulders and logs. That switchback? That boulder or log? Each one of those actually took a great deal of effort.
Historically ranked among the most popular peaks in Colorado, Quandary Peak earned a special place in my heart after a stormy day of trail work last fall.
Located just a few miles south of downtown Breckenridge and with an elevation of 14,272 feet, Quandary is one of Colorado’s most accessible fourteeners. This is largely what accounts for its popularity.
“Quandary has a great trail. It’s relatively easy to follow. It’s a shorter, more straightforward fourteener, so if you haven’t done one before, you say, OK, only 3 miles to the summit? I can handle that,” says Brian Sargeant of Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI).
My trail work day, led by CFI, was prompted by TINCUP Whiskey. The brand recently released the second edition of its 14-year-aged Fourteeners blend featuring Quandary Peak. Launched in 2022 featuring Longs Peak, TINCUP Fourteeners celebrates a specific Colorado fourteener every year, donating $14,000 to CFI. Also, debuting at Quandary, TINCUP recruits volunteers for a trail work day.
So, unlike most days of strenuous physical labor, mine ended in especially festive fashion. After hours of scraping, digging and wielding heavy raw materials in rain and snow, those TINCUP hot toddies hit the spot. But truly, the most rewarding part was seeing the small section of trail I helped improve.
The day started by splitting into two groups. The first group schlepped axes, shovels and picks a couple miles up the trail. There, above treeline at 13,000 feet, summer foot traffic had scattered the loose rocks (scree) all over, covering staircases and steps. Forming an assembly line, blinking away snow, the group spent the day clearing the corridor. Down below, my group’s job was preparing and placing logs onto the lower section of trail. This process began with CFI Field Programs Director Ben Hanus hiking up in the 4 a.m. darkness to saw down a couple of enormous, dead pine trees. By the time we got there, they had been neatly cut into 4-foot logs. We got to work shaving the bark off each until it looked fit to be transformed into expensive furniture. Weighing about 80 pounds, each log was wedged into a primitive carrying device, two of us holding one side of a handle while maneuvering the cumbersome mass down rock steps, around trees and steep pitches to a mapped out resting place near the start of the trail. There, we followed detailed instructions, digging out a trench in which to wedge each log, cover and camouflage it into the trail, occasionally moving our bodies and tools aside for the few intrepid hikers heading down the trail, their heads and shoulders brushed with snow.
“What we found with our trail conditions research at Quandary, if we have a really well-built trail made with sustainable materials, it can handle all the traffic it’s getting. It’s one of the best in the state in terms of its condition,” Sargeant says.
In 2022, CFI used data from trail counters to determine that the 23 fourteeners it maintains saw a total of 279,000 hiking days. Of those, 22,000 landed on Quandary, making it Colorado’s second-most (after Mt. Bierstadt) frequented fourteener. In 2023, preliminary data showed that Quandary tallied about 25,000 hiking days. These numbers are especially impressive considering Quandary’s new parking reservation requirements. Before these requirements, which came into play during summer 2021, Quandary would see around 40,000 hiking days a year. Now, to reach Quandary in the summer, visitors must either book parking in advance (using HikeQuandary.com, a full weekend day in 2023 cost $55), or take a shuttle to/from the trailhead. (This ran $7 per person roundtrip; free to Summit County locals). The parking and shuttle fees are only in effect from mid-June to mid-September. In winter, parking is free. Although CFI does not count visitors in the colder months, Quandary is, “anecdotally,” Colorado’s most popular winter fourteener.
“Quandary is really unique in that it’s great for first timers hiking a fourteener in the snow,” Sargeant says. “The avalanche risk on the east ridge is minimal compared to a lot of other places. It’s a spectacular peak to visit year-round.”
Even when the trail is covered in snow, I’ll always know where my log lies. I will forever step – or ski – over it with pride.
To volunteer with CFI, visit 14ers.org
Also, Friends of Breckenridge Trails schedule volunteer work days around Breck from spring through fall.
Oh, and: Fourteeners whiskey featuring Quandary Peak can be found at tincupwhiskey.com
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