Gunnison's Trails Close in Stages This Winter, and the Ice Opens First
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
Around Gunnison, winter doesn't arrive on one day. Two separate calendars set it. The wildlife closures on BLM and Forest Service land take ground away on dates that are printed months ahead. The groomed trails and outdoor ice that replace that ground open whenever the weather allows. The one fixed piece is indoors at Jorgensen, where the rink has been running since before the first trail closed.
Those two calendars don't line up. Here is how the 2026–27 season lays out, stage by stage, with the trail names attached.
| Date | What changes | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 28, 2026 | Jorgensen indoor rink season opens | City of Gunnison |
| Dec. 1 | Almont Triangle closes to all public use; West Antelope Creek ACEC and Flat Top roads close to motor vehicles | BLM / Forest Service |
| Early to mid-December | Nordic grooming begins once snow allows | Gunnison Nordic Club |
| Around third week of December | Outdoor rink and Pac Man Pond expected | City of Gunnison, weather permitting |
| Jan. 1 | Signal Peak closes to mountain bikes and motorized use | BLM |
| March 15 | Sage-grouse closures at Hartman Rocks and Signal Peak begin | BLM |
| March 21, 2027 | Indoor rink season ends | City of Gunnison |
| Mid-to-late April | Mud closures as Hartman melts out | BLM / Gunnison Trails |
| May 15 | Sage-grouse closures and most motorized restrictions lift | BLM |
The City of Gunnison lists Jorgensen Ice & Event Center's indoor season as Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 through Sunday, March 21, 2027. That puts the rink ahead of every closure on the calendar, and it will close before the spring closures lift.
The program covers a lot of ground. The City's rink page lists public skating, drop-in hockey, learn-to-skate, youth and adult hockey leagues, and free outdoor pond skating. It separates open hockey, stick-and-puck and novice open hockey into their own sessions. To see what a normal week looks like, the published schedule on RinkBook for Oct. 12–18, 2026 has nine public skate sessions spread across the week:
The same week also has WEHA adult league games, adult open hockey, youth West Elk teams and Western Colorado University men's hockey on the ice. Those times are for one week only. The City sends skaters to RinkBook for current hours, so check the live calendar before you head over.
For kids, the City's ice skating page lists youth learn-to-skate on Tuesdays from Nov. 3 to Dec. 15. Beginners skate from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. and intermediate skaters from 4:45 to 5:15 p.m. A winter session runs Jan. 5 to Feb. 9 and adds an advanced class from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m.
Outdoor ice is a different story. The City expects the outdoor rink and Pac Man Pond to open around the third week of December, weather permitting, and says they may last into March. That opening is an estimate tied to the weather, which makes the outdoor ice part of the second calendar.
On the closure calendar, nothing changes near town until December. The BLM's Gunnison Field Office closures page lists the Almont Triangle as closed to all public use from Dec. 1 to April 30. That includes Forest Service road 810 at Highway 135 and County Road 813. The same page closes the West Antelope Creek ACEC roads to motor vehicles from Dec. 1 to May 15. Those are BLM 3017, also called Red Creek, BLM 3233, BLM 3037, also called Rainbow Lake, and BLM 3232. Flat Top Forest Service roads stay closed from Dec. 1 through June 15.
Hartman Rocks changes too, but for a different reason. The BLM says some of Hartman's wet-weather gates are shut for winter grooming. At Hartman, the gate closures are about making room for skiers and fat bikes. In the Almont Triangle, the land closes to everyone.
The replacement for dirt trails is grooming, and grooming depends on snow. According to its website, the Gunnison Nordic Club grooms 45 kilometers of public cross-country trail at Hartman Rocks, Van Tuyl Ranch, Western's Practice Field, Jorgensen Park and Dos Rios Golf Course, and tries to groom early in the season at Mill Creek. The BLM's Hartman Rocks page describes 16 miles of Hartman roads groomed for classic and skate skiing, along with some singletrack groomed for winter fat biking.
Gunnison Trails maps a 17-mile winter singletrack network at Hartman for fat biking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Its etiquette rules matter if you share the trail:
Nobody has announced a first grooming date for 2026–27. Last season gives a rough idea. The club's grooming reports show Dos Rios groomed on Dec. 5, 2025, and Hartman and Van Tuyl grooming underway by Dec. 8, 2025. One early Hartman report described thin, windblown snow. Treat that as a precedent, not a promise. If December 2026 lands anywhere close to last year, there will be a week or two after the Dec. 1 closures when the closed ground is already off limits and the groomed trails and outdoor ice are still waiting on the weather. Jorgensen's indoor rink is the one sure thing during that stretch.
The second fixed date belongs to Signal Peak. Gunnison Trails' closures page says the whole Signal Peak area closes to mountain bikes from Jan. 1 to April 30, with no bike use before 10 a.m. from May 1 to May 15. Motorized use is closed from Jan. 1 through May 15. The group says this closure protects wintering elk and mule deer.
From January through April, that leaves Hartman's groomed singletrack as the winter riding option on this list, as long as there is snow to groom.
The biggest single change comes on March 15, and it applies to people on foot too. The BLM's basin-wide spring closure keeps motor vehicles off roads from March 15 to May 15. Its stated reasons are protecting Gunnison sage-grouse during mating and nesting and preventing damage to wet roads. The agency also asks non-motorized users on Gunnison Basin roads and trails to wait until after 9 a.m.
At Hartman Rocks, every road and trail south of Powerline Road closes to motorized and mountain bike use from March 15 to May 15. That covers Bambi's, Sawtooth, Back-In, 9-0, Outback, Skull Pass and Aberdeen Loop. At Signal Peak, the northwest section closes to all uses during the same window, including snowshoers, skiers, dog walkers, hikers and bikers. That section includes the Ridgeline trail from the second radio tower, Rasta Gulch, Chicken Wing, Cranor Hill and Shoelace. Hikers and runners elsewhere at Signal Peak are asked to stay off the trails before 10 a.m.
Mud season comes next. Gunnison Trails says all Hartman roads and trails close to mechanized and motorized use as they melt out, usually in mid-to-late April. The BLM adds that mud-season gates reopen only after the roads and trails dry out.
There is one exception close to town. The Campus Trails behind Western Colorado University aren't managed by the BLM, so the Signal Peak area closures don't apply to them. Gunnison Trails calls them a good early-season option as trails dry, and names Contour West, Cemetery, Canal, Old Car, Zig Zag, Chin Ups and the Flow Track.
All of these dates come with a caveat. The BLM says seasonal boundaries and dates can change. It publishes a 2026 Gunnison Field Office seasonal closure map, posted Feb. 23, 2026. Gunnison County keeps its own list of spring road closures across county, BLM and Forest Service land on its wildlife conservation page.
The trail network behind these closures may also change. In June, Gunnison Trails held an open house for Hartman's 2.0 at The HUB, 1000 N. Main St. The group presented it as a trail-development plan still being refined with public input, not as construction underway. Any new trails that come out of it will follow the same seasonal calendar, with the sage-grouse dates set by the birds and grooming that starts when the snow shows up.
David and Jennifer of The O'Brien Group keep track of which trails open in December, which close on March 15, and how close a given street sits to Hartman, Van Tuyl or the Campus Trails. If you are weighing how a Gunnison property fits the way you spend winter outdoors, we are happy to go through it with you.
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