Go West, or east, whichever you prefer: The Great Western Trail opens, providing a soft path from Windsor to Eaton

By Dan England

Back in 2004, Andy Nagel heard about a trail for off-road biking in Northern Colorado and was pleased to know it was supposed to go within a half-mile of his house. It would be a fun and, more importantly, safe place to ride, he thought.

“Being out in the country,” Nagel said, “you take your life in your hands. There’s no shoulders on the roads.”

Nearly 20 years later, the Great Western Trail has been far more than a safe place to bike for Nagel. He joined the board in 2008 and eventually became its part-time trail manager. And the trail grew like a pet snake until the board finally finished it in early August.

The trail, formerly an old rail bed, runs 10.5 miles from Windsor to Eaton. It’s a “soft” trail made of crusher fines instead of concrete, making it attractive for trail runners as well as mountain bikers or bikes with fatter tires. The material is commonly used on trails expecting heavy traffic for its cushy nature as well as an ability to drain quickly.

The board raised money and applied for grants for nearly a decade before the first section opened in 2013, billing itself as a safe route for Severance students to walk to school. Even when they were successful in getting a grant, it made things hard, as part of the federal grant stipulation was designing it perhaps a little fancier than a soft trail normally would need.

“It had to meet the design standards of a super highway,” Nagel says. “That tied it up for a number of years.”

The trail then ran into a property rights dispute, but once the courts ruled in their favor after a three-year battle, and they got a grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, they were ready to start construction this spring.

They hope to host a grand opening event next spring, perhaps a race or a ride (or both) to go along with it, and possibly include Eaton, Severance and Windsor, the three towns along the trail. The board also hopes to build trailheads in the three towns and is still taking donations: Right now there’s no official place to park at any of the entrances. The trail starts at the Greeley #2 Ditch and travels to Cheyenne Avenue in Eaton.

You can access the Eaton end from the Eaton Recreation Center or in Severance in the center of town behind Bruce’s Bar. You can access the trail from Windsor by parking at Boardwalk Park and traveling the path around Windsor Lake to the Greeley #2 ditch, but that adds 2.5 miles.

You can do chunks or, if you’re brave, the whole thing. Nagel himself is recovering from knee surgery, but he’s feeling pretty good these days, close enough to go for a bike ride.