As every resident knows, Durango boasts world-class trails—but these trails didn’t appear overnight. While some trails have their genesis in old stagecoach routes, others have been nurtured by one organization and a host of volunteers for the last nearly 35 years: Durango Trails. In the early 1980s, four Durango trail enthusiasts hatched the idea to create an independent, nonprofit trail advocacy and development group to interface with local land agencies and private land owners. Trails 2000 was born.
When Mary Monroe Brown joined Trails 2000 in 2005, she was the only full-time employee responsible for everything from managing trail work to running fundraising campaigns. Fast forward 19 years, and Durango Trails now has six full-time employees, two interns, and a roster of 400 to 600 volunteers. As the executive director, Monroe Brown led the rebrand to Durango Trails to celebrate the organization’s 30th anniversary in 2020. During Monroe Brown’s tenure, the nonprofit has developed 50 miles of new trails and completed hundreds of miles of maintenance.
When these accomplishments come up in conversation, Monroe Brown is quick to credit everyone but herself. I asked her to tell me of memorable moments during her tenure as executive director. She laughed and asked, “Like meeting Kevin Costner?” I replied, “That’s exactly what I’m looking for, particularly if he was riding a horse on the trails.” Unfortunately, Monroe Brown did not share any Western movie stories with me. Instead, she told me about long-term negotiations that led to real estate deals that drastically improved the trail system around Durango. Monroe Brown credited the entire community for Durango Trail’s success.
To illustrate that the growth of Durango Trails is a community achievement, Monroe Brown described a year-long negotiation that drastically increased the trail system around Durango. The talks took place at Carver Brewing in downtown Durango with one particular resident—a private land owner who owned several properties through which Durango Trails had obtained easements. The resident expressed a desire to give back to Durango, helping the parties reach an agreeable plan that led to the creation of one of the most extensive trail systems in the area.
“Relationship building is essential, and we live in the perfect place [for it],” Monroe Brown said. “So many of us are connected to the land and nature around Durango and want to give something back, and Durango Trails facilitated that.”
In another example, Monroe Brown explained how Durango Trails obtained and created an even more extensive series of easements. Through relationship-building and Monroe Brown’s strategic use of lemon Bundt cake, Durango Trails connected the ridge from Skyline to Rocky Road. Following a series of negotiations (and multiple Bundt cakes), Durango Trails obtained the easements for the property, connecting these trails and assigning the easements to the county.
Monroe Brown added that Durango Trails strives to cultivate and deepen the community-wide stewardship ethic by connecting volunteers to the Southwest Colorado landscapes and natural resources they cherish most. When volunteers get their hands dirty building and maintaining trails, it provides an opportunity to teach the value of trails and resource stewardship and why they are so important to our community.
“We live in a town with the highest per capita of national champions, world champions, and Olympians than any other town in the country,” Monroe Brown said. “This makes it particularly important to have proper facilities, like trails, for their training.”
Of course, one such athlete is Monroe Brown’s husband, Travis Brown, who was born and raised in Durango. In addition to his work as a Durango Trails volunteer, Brown also won the 1999 National Off Road Bicycle Association national cross-country title. He is the first Durango-born Olympian in mountain biking, having competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Although modest about her and her husband’s impressive achievements, Monroe Brown is understandably vocal about her daughter’s volunteer work on the Durango community trails. Now, in her first year of college, their daughter has worked on the trails of Durango since she was four years old. 
Speaking of time marching on, 2025 marks a bittersweet chapter for Durango Trails. As we prepare to celebrate 35 years of Durango Trails, we’re also saying farewell to Monroe Brown as the organization’s leader. She’s quick to stress that though she’s moving on from Durango Trails, the Brown family isn’t leaving town—and Durango Trails will continue its commitment to its mantra: “Great communities build great trails, and great trails build great communities.”
Happy Trails!
