New Trail Network Expands Training Options at Fishers Peak State Park

As reported by Kiowa County Press, Colorado Parks and Wildlife cut three new trails — Storyteller, First Spring, and Chaquaqua — on August 15, 2026, alongside flipping the 4.7-mile Goldenrod Trail to uphill-only mountain bike use. For anyone serious about earning their vertical, this is a new training ground, not a ribbon-cutting photo op.

Loop Math

The new lines splice into Fishers Peak Trail, the park's main route to the summit. That detail matters more than the headline mileage. You can now build loop routes instead of out-and-backing the same grunt, which means your hips, knees, and ankles rotate through different stress angles inside a single session. That's how you bulletproof a body for long days: varied load, varied cadence, no predictable grind. Loops also let you dial effort instead of repeating the same uphill with cooked legs.

Crystal Dreiling, Fishers Peak State Park Manager, noted the new lines give visitors more ways to experience Fishers Peak throughout the year. Fine. What actually matters for athletes is the terrain profile: the new trails run from grasslands and piñon-juniper woodland into higher-elevation forest. That's a gradient buffet. Sun-exposed opening miles for hammering pace, then canopy and cooler air as you climb. Pack water anyway — mountain weather flips fast, and the park's own guidance is start early, carry food, stay on designated routes. Cutting off-trail here is how you end up needing a search team.

Build the Day

Don't show up and wander. The peregrine falcon closure runs March 15 through the end of July and shuts down summit access — so the new loops are your only real shot at meaningful altitude work in that window. That's a six-month training block most front-range athletes blow off because the summit is locked. Now you have no excuse.

Goldenrod going uphill-only for bikes means the descent is yours to hike or run without dodging brake traffic and roost. Steady uphill cadence on Goldenrod, then link into Storyteller, First Spring, or Chaquaqua for a loop back to the trailhead. Stitched right, that's a legit 9-plus-mile day with real elevation turnover. If you're prepping for a longer objective — a 14er day, a fastpacking block, a late-season race — this is the kind of varied terrain work that builds the posterior chain better than any gym session.

Park gates run 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. You need a Colorado Parks and Wildlife parks pass or a Keep Colorado Wild Pass to roll in. No pets on site. For anyone mapping a seasonal block, slot this in now while the tread is still soft — your ankles and feet are doing more stabilization work than they will in a month. Train that stabilizer chain before the trail firms up.

The discipline is the same anywhere you're committing effort against a clock: route planned, variables accounted for, no improvising mid-effort. Scalping and chart pattern platforms run on identical pre-loaded structure — and so does a smart trail day.