Comment Now for New Trails on Smuggler Open Space

A DRAFT of the Management Plan Update for Smuggler Mountain Open Space is ready for your review!

Jointly, staff from Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, City of Aspen and Aspen Valley Land Trust used the 380+ public responses to the first questionnaire, stakeholder input and natural resource studies and reports to draft the updated management plan.

Since its inception, RFMBA has been advocating for adding more advanced trails and a dirt alternative for the exit from Hunter Creek to the Smuggler Open Space trail network. In this ongoing process, your public comments from earlier this year have resulted in a strong draft towards an updated Smuggler Mt. OS Management Plan.

Now we have come to the next stage of the journey and we ask you to please take the survey and prioritize these two actions:

RECREATION 1 (R.1) Explore the feasibility of a lower access “portal trail.” This action item envisions a new connecting trail from Smuggler Mt. Open Space, down towards Aspen, which would mean bike riders could have an alternative to the fast pavement descent down Red Mt. Road to finish a Smuggler Mt. / Hunter Creek area ride.

RECREATION 3 (R.3) Explore feasibility of constructing advanced mountain bike trails… This action item would add the opportunity for challenging steep trail experiences in the area above Tootsie Roll, leading down to Lollipop Trail. This type of experience is highly desired by many in the riding community, but is missing from the official trail system on Smuggler Mountain OS.