Telluride Trail Closed To Mountain Bikers

According to a report by the Telluride Daily Planet published 7/25/2008, mountain biking will no longer be allowed down the Telluride Trail (dirt switchback access road from the top of the San Sophia gondola station down into town). There will be a forest service agent posted at the top to enforce this ban. According to the story, conflicts with hikers / Telski and general dangers are the primary reasons given for the closure.

If I had to bet a large sum of money, I'd probably say Telski is taking a conservative legal position on this issue and was able to pursuade the National Forest Service to this end. People who point it on a bike will undoubtedly be subjecting themselves to bodily harm, and some may even be a danger to others.

A more jaded possibility would be that this is the initial phase of a pre-meditated plan which ultimately sees mountain baking down t-trail rise from the ashes as a pay-per-use activity and another source of revenue for Telski.

As an avid hiker (who doesn't mountain bike a whole lot these days), I rarely have any bad encounters and generally support mountain bikers. I see Telski's (conservative legal) position, but would have hoped they found a multi-use solution; which I do believe exists.