Foot traffic on Colorado’s 14ers last year fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade, according to a report released Sept. 3 by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. 

During the 2023 hiking season, which spans late May to early October, the organization recorded an estimated 260,000 visitors across the state’s 58 mountains that are above 14,000 feet. It marks the lowest level since 2015, the first year the Fourteeners Initiative began recording hiking use. 

Lloyd Athearn, the group’s executive director, stressed that the numbers are not perfect counts and rely on a range of data sources. Mount Bierstadt’s trail counter, for example, only collected six days of data before being stolen for the second year in a row, meaning data modeling had to be used to fill in the gaps.

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Still, the data shows an overarching downward trend in the number of 14er visits from its peak in 2020. 

“Undeniably, there are still a heck of a lot more people out on 14ers now than there were 20 years ago,” Athearn said, “but I think that it’s a good thing that it’s down at a more manageable level.”

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Compared to 2022, hiking use fell in three of Colorado’s seven mountain ranges, with the sharpest decline recorded in the Mosquito Range, which stretches south of Breckenridge to Buena Vista. The range saw a 55% dip in visitors in 2023 compared to the year prior, something Athearn attributes to the closure of the popular Decalibron Loop near Alma. 

“That has always been one of the most sought-after 14er routes in the state,” Athearn said. “That was the single-biggest factor in reduced numbers of people out on the 14ers in 2023.”

Connecting four popular peaks — mounts Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross — the Decalibron Loop also runs through several pockets of private land that have created roadblocks for recreators in recent years. Last summer, access to the loop via Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln was closed by a private landowner over liability concerns. 

Access was restored this year following several efforts that included the U.S. Forest Service acquiring 289 acres atop Mount Democrat after a sale by the owner. State legislation was also passed granting new protections for landowners who allow for recreational use of their private land. 

The new law shields landowners from lawsuits by outdoor recreators so long as they install signs warning of any hazards in the area. 

Alex Derr, founder of the online recreation blog The Next Summit and a chief proponent of the legislation, said he believes the law will prevent similar public-private visitor use issues in the future. 

“I think we can be pretty sure that those peaks are going to remain open and those numbers are going to shoot up next year,” said Derr, who studied the Decalibron Loop access issue as part of his master’s thesis project at the University of Colorado in Denver. 

Derr’s research included gathering input from stakeholder groups like landowners and the Forest Service as well as reviewing existing Colorado law and comparing it to legislation in other states to reveal gaps. His work helped shape what would become Senate Bill 58, the bill that requires signage in exchange for legal protection. 

Derr said the response from landowners has been positive, adding that his coalition group that advocated for the new legislation has distributed signs to roughly 15-20 property owners who allow portions of their land to be accessed by the public. 

“It was a win, but it was just one of many small wins that are going to be required to prevent future, similar issues,” Derr said, adding that outside of the Decalibron Loop, “it also does seem like there is a chronic, less intense but consistent reduction across the other peaks.”

Along with the Mosquito Range, where the Decalibron Loop is located, two other ranges saw visitor decreases. The San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado saw a 14% drop in hiking use and the Front Range saw a 3% drop. 

Part of that could be a natural decline from 2020 when visitor use rose to a record-breaking 415,000 combined day hikes for the state’s 14ers. Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Athearn said the elevated numbers of recreators in 2020 and into 2021 “were a bit of an anomaly.”

Yet 14er foot traffic is also falling at a faster rate than its growth pre-COVID. 

“Even if you were looking at the increase up until 2019, it was going up at a more gradual pace than the decline we’ve seen since then,” Athearn said. “I think we might be seeing a lot of demographic changes.”

U.S. Census data shows Colorado was the sixth fastest-growing state between 2010 and 2020, with a population increase of nearly 15%. Growth slowed between 2020 and 2023, however, with just a 1.8% population increase. Net migration population levels over the past two years are roughly half of the amount seen in prior decades. And Colorado’s population is getting older. 

“That might mean fewer people who are at an age where there is an ability to get out a lot,” Athearn said. 

There is also the backlash to overcrowding, with more tourism communities implementing shuttle and parking reservation systems meant to encourage more sustainable recreation. 

Summit County, for example, launched paid and reserved parking at Quandary Peak in 2021 after being inundated with nearly 50,000 hikers — an all-time high — the year before. The county also employs a shuttle system from Breckenridge meant to cut down on cars, with the option free for residents and $7 for out-of-county visitors. 

Visitation to Quandary has flattened since, though it still remains one of the two most popular 14ers in Colorado, tied with Bierstadt at between 25,000 and 35,000 day hikes in 2023. The Elk Mountains — which contain the iconic Maroon Bells near Aspen — saw a 7% increase. Hiking in the Sawatch Range in central Colorado was unchanged. 

As Colorado’s tourism economy booms, Athearn said public officials will continue to face a delicate balance of promoting outdoor access with sustainable practices. 

“We’ve seen an explosion of use (on 14ers) like a rock thrown into a lake, and the biggest impact is always on 14ers nearest to the major population centers and transit corridors,” Athearn said. “So there needs to be some way we manage that where people aren’t parking in some chaotic fashion or overwhelming trailheads or trailhead communities.”