The Lot You Park In Now Decides Which Blodgett You Get

A short way past the Quarry Trailhead lot at 7250 Allegheny Drive, a new bridge crosses over to a fork. One branch climbs toward Blodgett Bike Hill. The other heads out on North Chamberlain Trail, below the grassy slopes of the reclaimed Pikeview Quarry.

That fork shows how the whole open space is being rebuilt. Blodgett is being divided by use, roughly south to north. Downhill bikes get the south end. Multi-use trails link everything together. The master plan saves the shadier northern section for hiking-only trails. As of late October, only the southern piece is finished. So the Blodgett you get this fall depends a lot on which of the three lots you park in.

The South End Is Finished, and It Was Built for Laps

The City opened about seven miles of new trail in the southern part of Blodgett on July 17. According to the City's opening announcement, the package included:

• 2.5 miles of directional, downhill-only bike trail
• Four miles of multi-use trail for hikers and mountain bikers
• A half mile of regional trail
• The new 50-space Quarry Trailhead
• Four trail bridges, new signs, and the closure of many unauthorized social trails

The money came from the Trails, Open Space and Parks sales tax, known as TOPS, along with a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Non-Motorized Trail Grant. The City bought this southern land through TOPS in 2021, and the master plan behind the build was finished in 2024.

The Bike Hill trails have names like Neurotoxin, Coil Cañon and Fang Drop. The Gazette reported that the names nod to the local rattlesnakes and to the challenge that builder Timberline TrailCraft was going for. Riders pedal up Culebras Trail to a hub, then drop more than 430 feet through berms, wooden flyovers and imported rock. The routes are rated green, blue and black.

The design is all about repeat laps. Cory Sutela of the mountain biking group Medicine Wheel told The Gazette that "this is a significant increase in the single-direction opportunities in our system." He also said new trails usually need time to settle in: "trails are never perfect the day you finish them and they often require a little tuneup." Sutela also expected that some riders of the trail known as Fenceline would miss it, since Parks officials judged it unsustainable.

The City's earlier bike-only trails were single routes. Chutes became downhill-only in 2019, and Ute Valley Park and Austin Bluffs Open Space each have their own designated trails. Blodgett Bike Hill is the first place in the city system built as a dedicated downhill zone you can ride over and over.

The Multi-Use Trail Is What Connects the South to the Rest of Blodgett

Culebras, the climb to the Bike Hill hub, stays open to hikers going out and back up to a scenic overlook, and Chamberlain and Oak Valley trails are open to people on foot and on horseback.

North Chamberlain matters most for the long run. The Gazette's Seth Boster wrote in September that it's the new northernmost segment of the Chamberlain Trail. That trail is planned to run along the city's backdrop from Blodgett Peak to Cheyenne Mountain. The map at the Quarry Trailhead shows how it connects into the network to the north.

The south end of that same trail got news this month too. On October 21, The Gazette reported that the City has secured an 8-acre easement to route the Chamberlain Trail around a rugged pocket of Fishers Canyon Open Space. A planned 3-mile stretch there would link over to Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Fishers Canyon still has no opening date. Trail construction could begin next year, depending on a stormwater plan, a zone change and possible Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant money next spring. So the northern end of the backdrop trail is now open, and the southern end is still on paper.

Which Lot Reaches What

Blodgett has three trailheads, and each one now leads to a noticeably different part of the open space.

From the north lot, Hummingbird Trail leads to the national forest boundary. The City's Blodgett page says there are no designated trails past the end of Hummingbird, and that includes Blodgett Peak. The City calls route-finding to the summit "difficult and treacherous."

The Middle and North Are Still Being Built

The other half of the project is the part people haven't seen yet. The City expects about seven more miles of new and improved trails in the central and northern sections by the end of 2026. In a September interview with Springsmag, David Deitemeyer, a senior program administrator with City Parks, said that work was still scheduled for the rest of the year, "weather dependent."

He also gave a preview of the north end. The master plan calls for 1.5 miles of hiking-only trail in the northern section, where there's more tree cover and the trails run "a little more shady and cooler in the summertime." He said that through the master plan process, "the community supported maintaining more of that hiking feel" up there. That's the third piece of the south-to-north split.

Until it's done, expect some disruption up north. The City says the work moves construction equipment through the open space and may bring "potential temporary, isolated closures." You may also see flags marking trail alignments and mitigation work. One line on that same page still says the work would wrap up by summer 2026. The City's July announcement moved the target to the end of the year.

Gates Close an Hour Earlier Starting Sunday

The City's Blodgett page lists two sets of seasonal hours:

1. May 1 to October 31: 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
2. November 1 to April 30: 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

That puts the switch on Sunday, November 1. The July opening announcement listed 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. year-round and said all three trailhead gates close every night. Either way, you're leaving by 9 p.m. this winter. The posted rules also require visitors and pets to stay on designated trails and dogs to be on a leash no longer than six feet.

The Quarry Stays Off-Limits

The grassy slope you see from North Chamberlain is not part of the trail project, according to the City's July announcement. The City accepted the Pikeview Quarry donation in April, after a third-party geotechnical review confirmed the reclaimed slope was stable. Deitemeyer told Springsmag the quarry is on the City's list of unfunded projects. It didn't make the 2027 budget, and master planning "potentially" could start in 2028. The City's quarry page says its future use hasn't been decided and that public engagement is planned, with no timeline set.

This winter, park at Allegheny Drive for the Bike Hill and North Chamberlain, and at the Woodmen Road lots for the older trails and the northern section.

If being close to trails like Blodgett is high on the list for your next home on the northwest side, the Thetford Team can help you figure out which neighborhoods are an easy drive to which trailhead. Reach out anytime and let's talk about your move.