Shelf Road 

Trail work has been a focal point of my life. I started working trails nine years ago and never looked back. Trails were my world, my mission, my way of making sense of life. Nothing has encapsulated me in the way trail work has, until I found climbing. I LOVE climbing. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose between these two passions, as one really empowers the other. 

When I moved to the Springs in 2021, I was lucky enough to be welcomed into an incredible community and wide landscape of recreation opportunities. A friend of mine said, “Hey, come climbing with me.” It was an immediate obsession. You mean to tell me I can use my strength of body and mind to solve life-sized puzzles while surrounded by the coolest people I’ve ever met?  

Uh yeah, sign me up.  

Now, my weekdays are spent at work supervising trail crews, my nights at the climbing gym, and my weekends at Shelf Road. Like any climber, I have a tried-and-true hometown crag that takes up any free time I can give it.  

Shelf is absolute bliss—cold limestone rock with crimps galore (meaning, “it's the best” for those of you who don’t speak climber). I am lucky enough to live in a town with access to several amazing crags within a two-hour drive, but none of them come close to Shelf in my mind.  

When I’m chasing shade at the Far Side or hiking up to the sun at Cactus Cliff, I’m in absolute bliss. These trails were built by RMFI—by my predecessors. Mark Hesse himself built these trails. He loved this place. He dedicated himself to protecting and maintaining it. He understood its magic as so many of us do. I always marvel at the RMFI-built retaining walls on the trail to The Gym, decades old and still holding strong! I’m honored to ascend from the sturdy belay platforms RMFI crews built just last season at the Piggy Bank.  

And that’s the best—getting to work at and protect my favorite place in the world.  

You may hear a “but” coming, and you’d be right. BUT this work is about to get harder.  

For years, it was pretty simple. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had some money for maintenance that they would pay RMFI so we could steward Shelf Road. Annually, RMFI crews would spend one-to-two weeks at Shelf, training our crews, building sustainable access trails and belay platforms, and engaging volunteers along the way.  

The system worked. The trails got the love they needed to allow safe and easy access to climbing routes, RMFI staff learned crucial trail building techniques, and the community was able to give back to a significant recreational asset that makes our region so special to live in.  

That system has changed. Recent government budget cuts have made it impossible for the BLM to pay RMFI for trail maintenance at Shelf Road like it has for decades. Without funding to support the work, it simply won’t get done. Trails will slowly erode without walls to support them, steps will loosen and fall out, and so much more.  

Now, you might be thinking, “I’m still going to climb there either way, what does it matter whether the trails are maintained?” Well, I believe that as a person who recreates, I am also responsible for taking care of the places I enjoy. If public lands belong to all of us, the responsibility to care for them belongs to all of us as well.  

Now, you might also be thinking, “We could just have volunteers go out and do the work! That should keep costs low!” Unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. Anytime RMFI takes volunteers out to do the work, it requires financial resources. It takes staff time to identify maintenance needs, to come up with projects to solve them, to coordinate the volunteers as a part of this solution, to drive staff to the site to ensure a safe workday, and so on.  

But thankfully, RMFI cares about Shelf almost as much as I do! We are barking up every tree to raise funds to care for this regionally significant crag. To complement these efforts, RMFI is trying to raise $5,000 this spring to help mobilize a trail crew to steward the trails at Shelf in 2026. This would supplement staff wages, camping equipment, and food for our crews as they provide the care this crag and its trails deserve. 

To contribute to this campaign, simply head to our donation page to make a contribution.  

If you, like me, love Shelf Road, or if you love your local crag as much as I do, then I hope you’ll understand Shelf’s dire need for your support. Perhaps you aren’t a climber, but you can relate because you know what your outdoor “spot” means to you. If you are in a position to give a little extra this year, I sincerely hope you consider supporting RMFI’s efforts to protect Shelf Road. 

Climb on, 

Otzma

Photo descriptions below in order:

RMFI and volunteers move rock together at Shelf Road, 2000. 

Rock Steps built for Crimp and Punishment route by RMFI crew, 2024. 

Rock Steps built for Crimp and Punishment route by RMFI crew, 2024. 

Trail refinement and rock retaining wall built by RMFI crews at Cactus Cliffs, 2025. 

RMFI crew moving a rock together at Piggy Bank, 2024. 

Rock retaining wall built by RMFI crew at The Gym, 2020. 

Rock steps built by RMFI crew and volunteers on a Shelf Road approach trail, 2022. 

Rock retaining wall built by RMFI staff and volunteers at the Gym, 2019.