Gem Lake Trail Improvements – Rocky Mountain National Park CO

Description

The Gem Lake Trail at Rocky Mountain National Park is on the National Register of Historic Places (2008, 5LR.11810.1), in part for New Deal improvements:

“The trail is associated with the early resort industry and tourism in the Estes Park region, particularly in its function as an equestrian route.  The trail assumed its current alignment with the completion of alterations in 1923.  During 1940 and 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed trail maintenance and improvements in keeping with National Park Service Naturalistic Design principles of the 1920s through the 1940s.  The property is associated with the Rocky Mountain National Park and the Historic Park Landscapes in National and State Parks Resources Multiple Property Submissions.” (History Colorado)

It is only one of many trails that the CCC worked on in Rocky Mountain National Park (see associated trails page).