Users please note the trail closures on the North Slope, effective Fall 2023-Spring 2026. We will update this site as additional information about the dam repair and other work is available. For now the full loop around North Cat is not possible because the road across the dam is closed to recreational use during the dam rehab project. Additional information can be found on the CS Utilities construction project page.
The Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) North Slope Recreation Plan was created in 1992 to address public recreational access to the area around 3 reservoirs on the north side of Pikes Peak: Crystal Creek res, and North and South Catamount reservoirs. The trails in the area are typically accessed via the Pikes Peak highway or the Teller County trailhead off Edlow road. Mule Deer, Limberpine, Mackinaw and other trails interconnect around the reservoirs and provide opportunity for regional connections through the Ring the Peak Trail.
MedWheel has completed some minor repairs to the Limber Pine Trail in 2018, and received CSU approval for a reroute of a particularly erosional portion of this trail between the 2 reservoirs.
In collaboration with the Colorado Springs Parks Department, MedWheel applied for a Great Outdoors Colorado grant for Youth Corps crews to assist in the completion of this reroute.
That grant was not successful, and the project was postponed in 2022 due to fire mitigation and vegetation removal projects in the area that have now been completed by CS Utilities.
Because this area of the CSU north slope is part of the Ring the Peak trail, we are working to identify Ring the Peak funds that may be used to complete this work in the near future.
MedWheel has proposed additional trails that will enhance the north slope trail network, and we will continue to work with city parks and CSU staff, along with other partners, to move these forward in 2024.
