The Rock Island Trail

Dan Cleaveland, Former TOSC Executive director remembers

“Back in 1994 or 1995 TOSC partnered with EPC to get the segment form Peyton to Falcon ready for construction. At the time it was covered in old railroad ties and other debris. We did a complete cleanup for the entire 9.5 mile length, collecting all the RR ties, piling them up into neat piles for the county to collect. At the same time some of the bridges were missing ties so they had to be replaced. It was a big project but it turned out nicely!

Later, in 2000, The Rock Island Trail became a part of a national effort under Hillary Clinton to create a set of trails honoring the millennium. TOSC proposed the Rock Island as part of a corridor from Peyton to Cripple Creek called the America the Beautiful Trail which was approved as Colorado’s millennium legacy trail. As part of the celebration, we did a relay on a Saturday starting in Peyton with Medicine Wheel cyclists riding to Falcon, the horseback riders from Falcon through Rustic Hills and then runners, more cyclists, horses, etc all the way to Cripple Creek. I would race ahead and set up displays along the way, had refreshments, gave a talk and then the relay would start again. I did stops in Falcon, the connection with the Greenway, Sinton Trail, Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls, Woodland Park, Divide and then Cripple Creek. Matt Carpenter ran the segment through Ute Pass. It was incredibly hectic but fun. We finished with a dinner and show at the melodrama theater in Cripple Creek. Part of the project included some of the trail benches along the way that we got a National
Endowment for the Arts grant for. “