Meet Summit to Sea Trails LLC | Forrest Gale | Tommy Cogger – Founders and Owners of Summit to Sea Trails

We had the good fortune of connecting with Summit to Sea Trails LLC and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Summit to Sea Trails LLC, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Through our work we like to think we are genuinely making communities and the peoples lives who live there better.

The trails we build create a way for people to connect with and appreciate the natural world around them. Not only do trails provide access to public lands but they encourage recreation which is incredibly beneficial for both physical and mental health. Additionally trails can often be a huge economic driver for communities and their businesses while keeping land in the public trust.

Biking and hiking trails create sustainable and fun ways for people to live healthy, appreciate nature and hopefully want to protect these wide open natural spaces for generations to come.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Summit to Sea Trails LLC is proudly a rider owned company based out of Estes Park, CO that provides trail consulting, maintenance and building services across the United States.

In our approach to trail building we try to focus on creating sustainable trails that incorporate and play off of the surrounding environments. We believe that the most memorable and fun trails each have their own unique personality and story to tell. We bring that ethos into our building process so we aren’t just building more of the same trail everywhere.

As we like to say, “leave the roots, leave the rocks, it is nature after all!

Nothing about the trail building world is easy in terms of how hard the work is on the body, or the long periods away from home and family. One thing that has helped us with this and in our business is trying to explore the areas and communities where we are building. We have found whether it be stopping into the local bike shops or restaurants or riding the local trails you are bound to meet new and interesting people and create friendships and connections that help elevate our business.

Throughout our travels one thing we have consistently found is that people are excited to share their trails and what their communities have to offer if you give them a chance. So say hi and ask questions because you never know what you might learn!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Fly into Grand Junction hopefully you brought your bike because this trip has a lot of trail miles to cover. We would start by riding the Ribbon Trail to Eagle Wing over in the Lunch Loops trail system.

From there head out to Glenwood Springs hot springs for a soak in the worlds largest hot springs followed up with some dinner at Brava Modern Trattoria. Book a few nights at the Hotel Denver in downtown Glenwood springs.

The next day stop by Sunlite Bike Shop to pick up any last minute things and then go ride Red Mountain trail system in Carbondale. Right across the street from the trailhead is Honey Butter Diner, you have to try their famous hot honey fired chicken!

Get a reservation and go check out the Hanging Lake Trail in Glenwood Canyon, it should be one of the 7 wonders of the world. You could wrap up the week by rafting Glenwood Canyon, hitting the wild ride of the Shoshone rapids followed up with some mellow boogie water down to South Canyon take out.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

There are so many organizations and people that have helped our business grow and succeed over the years that we can’t mention everyone.

A huge thank you to Jennifer Burns from Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund and the Red Rock Trail Crew for all the awesome work they do.

We would like to thank the WMBC (Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition) in Bellingham, WA. Through their advocacy and trail building efforts we were inspired to seek out a livelihood based around mountain biking and increasing access to our public lands. Our college years at Western Washington University were so much more memorable and impactful because of the work they did and continue to do, to create an incredible mountain biking community.

Without their trails, advocacy and volunteer dig days, the seed to start our own building and consulting company may have never been planted.

We would also like to thank the Rocky Mountain National Park Trails Program and the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association for the opportunities they provided us on their trail crews.

Website: www.summittoseatrails.com

Instagram: summittoseatrails