Sawtooth and Naturita Flats Project
We’re planning to build a 50+ mile trail system in the heart of the West End of Colorado.
The trail system is designed to accommodate cyclists of all experience levels, including providing opportunities for leisure riders, e-bikers and more advanced riders seeking technical, progressive mountain bike trails.
The network encompasses more than 50 miles of trails, carefully designed to make the most of the topography, slopes, ruggedness, and scenic aspects of the area.
The primary objective of this project is to develop an easily accessible, high quality, sustainable trail system that provides opportunities for hiking, trail running and both cross country and gravity focused mountain biking.
The Sawtooths & Naturita Flats
The Sawtooth area is comprised of a blend of juniper and pinyon forests, sagebrush meadows, slickrock expanses, cliff bands with large blocks, as well as some patches of ponderosa pines and aspens. The hillsides accessing the mesas are steep in several sections with cliff bands bisecting the hillsides, limiting navigation to the mesa tops to only a few access points where there’s a break in the cliff.
The topography is characterized by a high ridge along the southern edge overlooking the Paradox Valley descending to the north toward the San Miguel River. The terrain is highly variable and exposed with significant slickrock and outcrops throughout.
The Naturita Flats area is also higher in elevation along its northern edge before descending to the south directly above Naturita.
Trail Design
The proposed trail system offers a diverse network of trails that cater to many different trail users, ability levels, and recreational interests. The trail experiences have been categorized to facilitate safe and friendly interactions among different types of trail users and accommodate a higher number of visitors.
The focus of the mountain bike optimized trails is on long trail descents utilizing the slickrock mesas and also descending into gullys between the mesas to offer a dynamic backcountry experience. We aim to build progressive mountain biking trails for beginner to expert riders, creating and unforgettable user experience by building with our unique terrain.
The eastern section is intended for non-motorized, multiple-use trails specifically designed and built to enhance the mountain biking experience. The envisioned mixed-use trails on the far West end cater to a diversity of user groups and provide additional backcountry trail mileage. Overall, the trail system aims to provide a high-quality trail experience, showcasing the unique characteristics of the Sawtooth area and offering a wide range of trail options for mountain biking enthusiasts.
We estimate the total cost of planning, design and construction to be $1.4 million. This project is being funded through a combination of proceeds from WETA memberships, grants and private donations. To date, we’ve raised over $134,000 for the project.
Trail construction could take between 4-8 years, influenced by a variety of factors including the availability of funding, time of professional build crews and volunteer support.
WETA is seeking collaboration with companies and volunteer groups for trail work days. Interested in learning more? Email westendtrailalliance@gmail.com.
Our Partners
