The New Santa Fe Regional Trail follows an old rail grade

The straightness gives it away. The 14-mile El Paso County portion of the New Santa Fe Regional Trail runs flat and arrow-straight for its first several miles because it sits on the old grade of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Trains needed gentle, level ground, and when the line was abandoned the right-of-way became a ready-made path. The trail begins at Palmer Lake, up on the Palmer Divide that separates the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds, and works its way south from there.

Partway along, the route slips through a piece of land most rail trails never touch. An easement from the U.S. Air Force Academy provides a crucial stretch of the corridor, and through Academy ground users are asked to stay on the six-foot-wide trail surface rather than wander off it. The rule is simple, and it is the price of crossing federal property that is also an active institution.

What rides on this one line is unusual: railroad history, the geography of the Palmer Divide, Academy land, and everyday walking and biking, all stacked on the same narrow strip. A portion of the cross-country American Discovery Trail follows it too, so a stroller from Palmer Lake and a long-distance hiker bound coast to coast can share the same stretch of gravel. The El Paso County trail page carries the current maps, access points, and the specific rules for the Academy segment.