Under a recently approved plan, changes will be coming to a popular recreation area in Colorado’s central mountains.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Southern Tenmile Recreation Access Project encompasses Quandary Peak and other highly sought destinations in the vicinity: lakes, waterfalls and trails reached via the Spruce Creek, McCullough Gulch and Blue Lakes trailheads outside Breckenridge. The area sees about 237,000 visitors a year, according to the Forest Service, which in a news release called the plan “much-needed.”

Breckenridge’s Open Space and Trails Manager Duke Barlow called the area “the town’s backyard, and its health is vital to the Breckenridge community.” The plan, he said, “will help us accommodate the demand for recreation while minimizing impacts on our neighbors and our environment.”

But the plan, nearly two years in the making, has drawn pushback from locals and visitors opposed to expanding Quandary Peak’s paid parking reservations and shuttles to nearby trailheads. 

Indeed, at the Spruce Creek Trailhead and potentially at the Blue Lakes Trailhead, the plan calls for expanding the summertime system that has been jointly managed by the town of Breckenridge and Summit County since 2021. 

That system was set up to cut back crowding, overflow parking along the adjacent highway and environmental degradation around the 14,000-foot peak seen as the busiest in the state. Last summer, parking reservations for Quandary and McCullough Gulch cost $30-$55 depending on the day; the shuttle from town charged $7 for non-county residents.

The Southern Tenmile plan says the system “has received overwhelmingly positive responses from the public over the past 5 years due to a noticeable reduction in traffic and congestion in the area.” 

Yes, numbers have dropped, Colorado Fourteeners Initiative Executive Director Lloyd Athearn wrote in comments responding to the Southern Tenmile plan. He noted Quandary hiking estimates down 46% between 2020 and 2024. And he expected paid parking reservations and shuttles would similarly drop numbers at trailheads beyond.

“It also may have the effect of changing the demographic composition of those seeking out these unique places,” Athearn wrote. “My suspicion is that those who are wealthy and/or have more flexible schedules will still come, while those with fewer resources and less flexible schedules likely will be displaced elsewhere or will stay home.”

The Southern Tenmile plan refers to the Spruce Creek Trailhead as “the most popular location in the project area,” accessing Wheeler National Recreation Trail and Mohawk and Mayflower lakes. The plan details a current “informal parking lot” that would be rebuilt for approximately 78 spaces and include a shuttle turnaround.

A similar parking lot expansion is slated for the Blue Lakes Trailhead. The goal is to create 45 parking spaces at the trailhead, where the plan indicates visitation “has increased since the inception of the Quandary/McCullough Gulch shuttle and parking reservation system due to displacement of users from those trailheads.”

In his comments sent to the Forest Service, Richard Mason counted himself among those displaced. He was among locals who asked for restored access along McCullough Gulch Road, where a new upper trailhead of 12 parking spaces is envisioned near the shuttle turnaround — “little to address these barriers,” Mason wrote.

As a Summit County resident of 25 years, he described himself as “deeply dismayed” by the plan that he saw adding barriers to the Spruce Creek Trailhead: “These changes would further erode the ability of locals like myself to freely enjoy the lands we have cherished and stewarded for generations.” 

Another commenter, Paige Money, said she supported plans for improved parking lots, restrooms and expanded trail connectors — “all of which would significantly improve visitor experience and environmental stewardship.”

“However, I strongly oppose the proposed expansion of the paid shuttle and reservation system,” Money continued, fearing “a gated experience rather than preserving open public access.”

In its scoping document, the Forest Service suggests the majority of comments received were “generally supportive of the project.” This includes a letter from Summit County’s Board of Commissioners, which cited a “critical” need to “balance user experience and visitor access with the conservation and protection of natural resources.” 

In stated efforts to strike that balance amid more demands and diminishing budgets, federal land managers have increasingly turned to “pay-to-play” models and contracted out recreation management. In Colorado, such models are seen at Hanging Lake, Maroon Bells and several campgrounds. Next summer, permits are expected for hiking Blue Lakes in the southwest San Juan Mountains. 

As for the Southern Tenmile’s Blue Lakes Trailhead, the plan states officials “will not immediately implement parking reservations” there and at “lesser-used portions of the project area … as long as monitoring shows parking issues are not occurring.” This is part of an “adaptive approach corresponding with the construction of trailhead infrastructure.” 

Construction could begin this summer as part of the first phase of the multi-phase, multi-year project.