A key trail to the top of one of Colorado’s most-climbed fourteeners (peaks that rise 14,000 feet or more) and other fourteeners that was previously under private ownership is now in the hands of the U.S. Forest Service.
The purchase of 300 acres leading to and including the summit of 14,155-foot Mount Democrat removes the longstanding logistical challenges stemming from limited access through private land, according to a U.S. Forest Service news release.
The purchase includes the popular DeCaLiBron hiking loop, which provides recreationists the ability to hike several fourteener peaks in one day: Mount Cameron, Mount Lincoln and Mount Bross. It also includes the headwaters of the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers and Kite Lake Trailhead.
The nonprofit Conservation Fund bought the property from Earth Energy Resources LLC earlier this year and worked with the forest service make the property public land.
The purchase price was not included in the release.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Trail to peak of one of Colorado’s most-climbed 14ers is now public