Devils Playground Camping Overnight 2-Day Stewardship Weekend
RMFI is pleased to provide volunteers with dinner on Saturday, breakfast, and lunch on Sunday. Water refill will be available at camp. Volunteers do need to be equipped with their own camping gear; a kitchen setup will be provided.
This is a community stewardship opportunity where we welcome volunteers of all backgrounds and communities.
Calla Balliett, Community Engagement Coordinator calla@rmfi.org
Meeting location:
Please park and meet RMFI at the Crags Campground group sites. We will be parking and camping at this location for the weekend.
Coming from Highway 24 you will be turning left off of Hwy 67 just after the entrance to Mueller State Park onto Teller County Road 62. The sign reads, "CR 62" and there is also a brown Forest Service sign that points you in the direction of the Crags; this sign reads "Crags C.R. 3 1/2". You will now be on a dirt road for the remainder of the drive. This road is accessible to non 4x4 vehicles though we recommend that you drive carefully. Approximately 1.6 miles up CR 62 you will reach a fork at the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp, stay to your RIGHT. You will continue up CR 62 for another 2.5 miles into a more forested section of the road. You will pass the Raspberry Mountain Trailhead, the Crags Trailhead, and the Campground will be the next left.
We recommend downloading driving directions prior to leaving.
Online registration will close on Tuesday, August 12 at midnight. Pre-registration is required, please register online. If you need any assistance registering, please contact Calla at calla@rmfi.org.
Project Information:
In 2019, RMFI broke ground on the new Devils Playground Trail and will continue our efforts in the 2023 season. The Devils Playground Trail (also known as the Crags Trail) traverses approximately 7 miles and 4,300 feet starting from a trailhead located near the Crags Campground (Woodland Park, CO) and terminating at the summit of Pikes Peak, elevation 14,115 feet. The trail is located entirely on the USFS Pike National Forest. The trail is one of two primary hiking trails to the summit of Pikes Peak, known to be one of the most visited mountains in the world. The Devils Playground Trail offers a shorter, less crowded route as compared to Barr Trail, and provides hikers with stunning views of mountain ranges to the west.
In late 2018, the Pikes Peak Ranger District finished analysis that is required by the NEPA process. Botanical and archaeological surveys showed that the new trail would not have deleterious impacts to the ecology of the area, which paved the way for construction of a re-route of the Devils Playground Trail to begin in 2019. RMFI will work with youth corps crews, its own internal stewardship crew, and community volunteers to construct the new trail.
Land Acknowledgment
This is a community stewardship day, which we acknowledge takes place on the traditional unceded territory of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Cheyenne, and Jicarilla Apache Nations*. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced occupation of their territory, and we honor and respect the many diverse indigenous people connected to this land on which our stewardship days take place.
*If you would like to learn about the native territories that each of our projects are located on, please follow this link: https://www.rmfi.org/projects.