Southeast Wyoming is in the middle of a mountain biking renaissance. The 50-mile stretch between Laramie and Cheyenne already boasts well-known destinations Curt Gowdy State Park, Happy Jack, and Vedauwoo — trail systems that have been pulling riders from across the country for years. But the trail building boom isn’t slowing down.
Next year, Belvoir Ranch will add over 12 miles of fresh singletrack to the mix, with plans to eventually expand to 30 miles across three phases
From failed landfill to wind turbines and MTB trails
“It’s a 22,000-acre ranch,” Todd Thibodeau told us. “It’s big — the ranch actually goes from Interstate 80 all the way down to the Colorado state line. And a lot of it has other uses going on, but in the west and southwest parts of the ranch, we put together a trail proposal.”
Thibodeau has been pushing for trails at Belvoir Ranch for quite some time now. When the city of Cheyenne finally approved them, Thibodeau built the trails. In addition to being involved with the Fort Collins, Colorado-based Overland Mountain Bike Association, Thibodeau owns a trail-building company — TPT Trails. TPT and Thibodeau have worked on several builds in southeastern Wyoming, including trail construction at Curt Gowdy State Park.
The city first considered purchasing the ranch in 2001, but didn’t actually make it official until 2003. And while recreation was a reason Cheyenne acquired Belvoir Ranch, it wasn’t necessarily a driving factor.
First, the city needed a new landfill, which they thought a portion of the ranch could house. Thibodeau informed us that after purchasing, the city determined the land was not suitable for a landfill, and the idea was buried.
The second reason for purchasing the ranch was good water resources. Belvoir holds a number of wells that are now producing a significant amount of water for Cheyenne.
Thibodeau said that recreation was likely number three on Cheyenne’s list of reasons for buying the Belvoir Ranch. But, to the community, recreation crept up a bit higher.
“Now, to the community, recreation was number one,” Thibodeau explained. “There were a number of things, recreationally, that were proposed for the property. But trails definitely were number one when it came to recreation.”
In 2005, the city expanded the area, purchasing an adjacent property called the Big Hole. And, a few years later, Cheyenne developed a master plan for the Belvoir Ranch. The landfill idea was out, and trails were in.
But everything came to a screeching halt in 2008. The economy collapsed, and the city simply didn’t have the resources for any development at Belvoir. So, for the better part of a decade, Belvoir Ranch sat with little to no development happening. That was until 2019 and 2020, when Cheyenne began conversations about leasing the land to a wind generator company. In total, 119 wind generators were leased, allowing the city to collect annual lease revenue.
“The city council did commit that a third of that revenue would go towards making improvements on the ranch,” Thibodeau said. “It’s not necessarily just trails, but trails are certainly a big part of that.”
Along with the funds from wind generators, Cheyenne received a $486,000 grant from the Wyoming Office of Recreation to kick off the Belvoir Ranch project. Cheyenne hired Thibodeau, and in 2023, he put together a trail plan for the ranch. In 2024, construction began.
Fast flow and technical features across 12+ miles of new trail
Unfortunately, the property still isn’t open to the public yet. While the trails may be done, the city wanted to ensure the road into Belvoir Ranch was in better condition than it currently is. They also wanted time to build a quality trailhead, ensure all amenities are in working order, and install trail signage.
Much of the ranch is high plains, with elevations reaching 7,000 feet. Thibodeau explained that the land primarily consists of sage and other brush with hardly any trees. Belvoir features interesting terrain, with the Sherman Range exposing Casper sandstone, limestone, and dolomite layers. There are also spectacular views of Rocky Mountain National Park and Longs Peak.
These exposed layers create two distinct trail styles for the Belvoir Ranch. Of the nearly 13 miles TPT Trails built, roughly nine are beginner and intermediate. These trails lean toward the flowy side, and Thibodeau believes they will be particularly fast and fun once they’ve had some time to set up.
“So about four miles of the trail is advanced-intermediate to advanced. We tried to provide a little bit of everything,” he told us.
The more challenging trails also pack in quite a few features. One jump trail has roughly eight jumps, and another boasts several wood features.
Thibodeau shared that they also built an adaptive trail that is over a mile long.
Belvoir Ranch is a multi-use trail system for hiking/running and mountain biking. While Thibodeau said that there are (currently) no MTB-only trails, TPT built the trails in such a way that hikers and bikers will likely be pushed to one trail or the other.
They are also planning for a separate equestrian trail system. Other recreation opportunities at Belvoir Ranch include hunting and fishing.
The trail system could grow to 30 miles
Belvoir Ranch isn’t the only trail development underway in southeastern Wyoming. We previously covered the ongoing trail development at Pilot Hill, near the city of Laramie.
Fifty miles separate Laramie and Cheyenne. With the addition of Belvoir Ranch, mountain bikers will have five distinct trail systems to explore between the two Wyoming cities.
The new 12 miles of singletrack at Belvoir Ranch were just phase one of what could be three phases total. Phase two would add eight more, plus another 10 in phase three, bringing the singletrack total at the ranch to 30 miles.
However, Thibodeau said that, to move forward with the next phases, they will need to cross a railroad. While there is currently an underpass providing easy access to the other side of the tracks, the crossing isn’t open to the public. The city of Cheyenne will need to get that sorted before Belvoir’s trail system can be expanded.
Once the trail system is expanded, they plan to connect it across the Colorado line with the Red Mountain-Soapstone trail system.
With more trails added across southeastern Wyoming (and northern Colorado), the area is quickly becoming a regional mountain bike destination. “So it’ll be over 150 miles of purpose-built trail between these two communities and five different ride areas,” Thibodeau shared. “And the cool thing is each riding area has kind of its own landscape and its own distinctive style of trail.”
Know about a new trail project we should cover? Whether you’re breaking ground on the next must-ride destination or putting the finishing touches on a neighborhood flow trail, we want to hear about it. Drop us a line at [email protected] with high-quality photos of your build, plus details like trail mileage, location, difficulty, and what makes it special. We’re always on the hunt for the next great trail story, and there’s a good chance your project could be featured in an upcoming article.
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