Camas-Washougal logo tag

Volunteers key to trail’s success

By
timestamp icon
category icon Columns
Dave Marston (right) and Jeff Miller repair a trail in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, Colo., in August 2024. (Contributed photo by Matt Smith, courtesy of Writers on the Range)

The Colorado Trail, an iconic 567-mile high-elevation trail that crosses the Rockies, owes its existence largely to Gudy Gaskill, a charismatic, six-foot-tall woman who could make tough things seem easy.

Gaskill not only carried out the vision of a state trail, beginning slowly in the late 1970s but also gave birth to it. In 1972, she lobbied Congress, along with forester Bill Lucas, credited with the Colorado Trail idea, to change federal law so that volunteers could be allowed to build trails on public land.

Thank you for reading the Post-Record.

Subscribe now to get unlimited access.

Already a subscriber? Sign in right arrow icon