Class of 2025 Service Trips
Continental Divide Trail, Grand Lake, Colorado
Students will work on a part of the official Continental Divide Trail (CDT), called The Gateway Garden, which connects the Town of Grand Lake to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Westgate students will be doing some light trail work such as weeding, moving rocks, improving drainage, etc, to spruce it up for the hiking season.
Prior to beginning the work, a representative from the Headwaters Trails Alliance (HTA) who will give a demonstration about some of the basic trail tools and a bit of trail maintenance 101.
The students will also help to stain some of the wooden features installed along this portion of trail (park benches, archway, signage). One unique feature of the CDT in Grand Lake is that the trail goes right down Grand Avenue (Grand Lake's “main drag”) so anyone who has ever stepped foot in town to shop, dine, etc has walked a portion of the CDT!
As such, Grand Lake has trail markers branded into a wooden boardwalk that flanks this road through our historic district, and with help from our local fire department the students will assist in re-branding the CDT trail marker (called a “blaze”) on portions where it is worn down from foot traffic.
Katie Hearsum, Town of Grand Lake Community Engagement Manager, will lead Westgate students on a short hike on the CDT into Rocky Mountain National Park through an area that was heavily impacted by the East Troublesome Fire in 2020.
After hiking, the students will enjoy a boat tour of Grand Lake.
