2021 Mountains & Mesas

Page 20
Mountains & Mesas
The "First Look Trail" at Fishers Peak State Park. Photo by Ismael Dovalina.
still a lovely place to take a short hike and maybe one of
the best spots around the city to have a picnic, but it’s
not the outdoor adventure destination that it someday
will be.
So if that’s all you’re after, hold your horses and keep
your eyes peeled. Fishers Peak State Park will be epic -
once the development is complete. When all is said and
done, the park will span 30 square miles, (19,200 acres)
which will make it Colorado’s second largest state park.
There will be a shiny new visitor center and other attractions.
The City of Trinidad is investing heavily in this
project in the hope that it will become popular, and
people and agencies around the state seem to share that
hope. Governor Polis has described the park as “iconic”
in several ways and seems particularly thrilled at the intersection
of opportunities that this site represents.
To have such a large chunk of wilderness with rare
and endangered species totally undeveloped with a
community that could really stand to benefit from its
use right next door? It’s an investor’s dream come true.
There are a great many hopes and dreams pinned
on this park, and while it’s impossible to tell the future,
it is worth recognizing that just getting the project this
far is already a realization of a lot of hopes, dreams, and
hard labor. You can’t access Fishers Peak just yet, but
you can get closer than ever before. Many of us have
been waiting all our lives to climb on that thing - what’s
a few years more?
to get there:
https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/FishersPeak
Fishers Peak State Park is beautiful in winter too.
Photo by Bergsteiger.