If approved, a new master plan would double trail mileage in Jones Park, the popular, backcountry getaway in Colorado Springs' southwest mountains.
Additions were the hope of hikers, mountain bikers, motorcyclists and equestrians who responded last year to a survey by El Paso County, which in 2015 assumed responsibility of the nearly 1,200 acres. That was amid a controversial chapter in the park's deep history, dating back to Pikes Peak-bound wagon travelers. In 2012, revelations of an endangered strain of greenback cutthroat trout prompted contentious changes to the trail system within the Bear Creek watershed.
U.S. Forest Service Trail 667, also known as Cap'n Jacks, was a particular flashpoint. Finished in 2017, the reroute was a disappointment to mountain bikers, who had previously cherished the ride, and to some environmentalists, who noted the alignment still erodible and potentially threatening to the watershed.