The Crestone Eagle, December 2007:

North access routes through Baca to Nat’l Park designated
by Jennifer Roberts

After a series of several meetings since the Crestone community was informed that a north access to the Great Sand Dunes National Park would be opened at Liberty Gate, it seems that the community has finally come to a consensus about the best access points for that access to take place. According to Sam Pace, Saguache County Commissioner, the November 20th goal of finalizing a decision has been reached. Several routes were proposed to the North Access Committee, narrowing down to three when all proposed access through Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park lands were taken off the table, forcing the North Entrance Access to come through the Baca Grande subdivision. All proposed routes were to end at the proposed public lands parking lot, south of the Liberty Gate, where a 16-18 car parking lot will be constructed. It will mostly serve back country hikers, and not the hordes of people many Crestone residents fear will be traveling through the Baca.

Of the several routes proposed, it looks like only two were possible after national access points were removed from negotiations. These are Route “A”, which would take visitors on Camino Baca Grande, through the subdivision on Wagon Wheel and Camino Del Rey, then back to Camino Baca Grande to Liberty Gate; Route “C”, which would take Camino Baca Grande to Camino Real (locally known as Two Trees Road) until it dead ends, with a road being built to connect to Liberty Gate; and finally, Route “D”, using the Baca Water and Sanitation easement road connecting County Road T past Colorado College to Spanish Creek, where it connects to Camino Real.

“We chose to designate alternative C as the entrance to the Park until alternative D could be improved to a level that would mitigate most negative impacts to the residents along this route,” said County Commissioner Sam Pace. “Until the Park Service finds the funds to complete the road from the end of Two Trees to the proposed forest service parking lot, alternative A will be used, which goes through the subdivision to liberty gate. This of course creates the most traffic impact to the Baca and this, along with the desire and the recommendation to have another egress/access route for emergency use, were determining factors in our decision.”

Pace presented these routes to the POA Board at their regular meeting on November 15th. According to Commissioner Pace, the route most preferred by the community is Route “D”, which will require development of the Baca Water and San easement road that travels from County Road T, past Colorado College, to Camino Real, just after Spanish Creek. Representing Saguache County, Pace requested permission of the POA Board for county use by the easement, first as an emergency access route, with the possibility of later developing the road as a separate North Access point. Currently, the only route connecting the subdivision with County Road T is Camino Baca Grande, limiting exit options in the case of fire or other disasters. The road is currently only suitable for four wheel drive vehicles, and would require extensive improvements, such as berming for lights and flooding, paving, etc.

According to David Nicholas, federal money to improve the road for north access to the Park won’t be available until 2011 if funds are provided at all.

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