Outdoor recreation and sports are gaining traction in Dolores with a new forest service trail completed and a vision of a new running track and athletic field in Joe Rowell Park.
The nonmotorized McPhee Overlook Trail is complete and ready for users, announced Chris Bouton, recreation specialist for the San Juan National Forest.
The trail begins in Dolores adjacent to the graveyard, climbs the mesa, then parallels the rim above McPhee Reservoir for five miles to the House Creek campground.
Bouton said the Southwest Youth Conservation Corp, forest service crews and volunteers have been working on the trail all summer.
“Once we got the grants and funding, the project gained a lot of momentum and a lot of people came forward to help,” he said.
The trail connects to the Bean Canyon connector trail near House Creek, creating a convenient link to the vast Boggy Draw trail network from town. It is open to hiking, mountain biking, and horse riding.
Interpretive signs will be installed at the trailhead in Dolores explaining the wildlife and archaeology in the area.
The Southwest Colorado Cycling Association and Greater Dolores Action contributed many volunteer trail-building days.
A celebration and grand opening of the McPhee Overlook Trail is planned for Sept. 24. Details will be announced soon.
The town and Dolores School district are coordinating a preliminary plan to study whether a new track and football field for the school and general public is plausible at Joe Rowell Park.
The school district has expressed an interest in building the new track and football field if physically and financially possible. The town is open to providing park space for the project, but the school would have to provide the funding to build it.
The town has agreed to be a pass-through agency to apply for grants on behalf of the Dolores School District, which does not have access to certain grants.
The town board approved a resolution Monday supporting an initial planning grant application for $24,000 to Great Outdoors Colorado. Any matches would be funded by the school district, said town manager Lana Hancock
The school district and town are formulating an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that will spell out how the facility would be managed and the public-use parameters.
“If it moves forward, an important piece is that there be public access because they would be using a portion of the town park for their (school) facility,” Hancock said.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
