Routt Powder Riders   --   Steamboat Springs, Colorado

RPR Concerns

The Routt Powder Riders snowmobile club has voiced their concerns about using FSR 550 for winter travel. Was FSR 550 built to handle winter traffic? Will traveling a gravel road shorten the season? Does the county really need to take on plowing miles of new roads in the snowiest part of the county while considering across the board pay cuts? And what kind of precedent is this setting for the county to plow Forest Service roads? What if the residents near Buffalo Pass decide they want to see that parking area moved miles within the Forest boundaries? Where will it end?

And perhaps the most important concern for our recreation, how will we access FSR 488 and all the terrain to the west of RCR 129 when Columbine residents have been petitioning for years to close the use of RCR 129 to snowmobile use, including the trail alongside of 129?

As you may have guessed by now, we also have several concerns regarding the proposed groomed snowmobile trail. We believe putting a motorized trail at the base of Columbine Meadows will create conflict. The area where FSR 418A is located is known to “carry sound like an amphitheatre.” Skiers who enjoy “the pristine backcountry experience” of Columbine Meadows are not likely to be satisfied with the groomed snowmobile trail for long. Isn’t it more likely this trail will end up like the Poverty Bar Trail or the SLO Trail?

Taking the trail from alongside of RCR 129 (where the sights and sounds of motorized vehicles are expected) and moving it behind and above private property will create conflict. Those private property owners already suffer the trespass of many Columbine Meadows users.

Did you know the County suggested the Steamboat Lake State Park consider a “buffer zone” of one mile from residential properties for their recreational trails? Yet the Forest Service is proposing a recreational trail within a stone’s throw of private property. These property owners chose to buy in the back, away from the road and right up against Forest Lands for privacy and serenity. Those who chose to purchase property alongside of RCR 129 for the convenience should expect motorized traffic on and along RCR 129.