Seasonal closures lifted on several Vail-area trails

Several trails in upvalley locations from Beaver Creek to Vail opened on Tuesday as perfect hiking weather blanketed Eagle County.

In the Minturn, EagleVail and Beaver Creek area, the Eastern Hillside and Paulie’s Plunge trails opened on Tuesday, along with the Whiskey Creek and
Everkrisp trails connecting Minturn to EagleVail for hikers and bikers.

In the Vail area, the popular downhill mountain biking trail Son of Middle Creek opened on Tuesday, along with the Buffehr Creek hiking trail and the mixed-use North Trail.

Further upvalley, trails were seeing dryer conditions this week, as well, after rain and melting snow made conditions too muddy to hike in early June.

While upvalley trails like Booth Lake and Pitkin Creek do not have seasonal wildlife restrictions, this year the town of Vail, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service asked users to avoid those trails in early June due to the presence of wildlife in the area.

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“Lower Bighorn and Gore trails can be better options, provided they are not muddy, in which case hiking causes damage to the trails and surrounding areas,” the town of Vail told trail users.

“Muddy trails are always closed trails,” the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance reminds guests. The alliance, on its website, maintains a list of open and closed trails.

The alliance’s website is a recommended resource for the latest on trail information as some restrictions have been a moving target for regular trail users in recent years. The Eastern Hillside Trail, U.S. Forest Service road No. 2347, was once closed through June 30, but now opens June 21. In Vail, the North Trail recently added five days to its seasonal closure, opening June 21 now instead of its originally established opening date of June 16.

A final round of wildlife restrictions is set to run through June 30, with the Two Elk Trail between Vail Pass and Minturn; and the Beaver Creek area trails Village to Village, Elkhorn, and Mud Spring all opening July 1.

In the Eagle area, the 3 Sisters Trail is set to open on July 1, as well.