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Steamboat Springs — Editor's note: This is the second in a four-part weekly series examining the rising popularity of snowmobiling, related land-use conflicts in Routt County and possible solutions.

The worn hardwood floors and wrought iron stove inside the Columbine General Store say much about how little the world around this tiny North Routt cabin has changed.

History stands frozen in time in a place like this, where a clustering of small wooden cabins offers a snapshot of an old mining town.

The miners are long gone, replaced by guests from California and New York who seek refuge in quiet hills and wide-open meadows ripe for winter play from abundant and regular snowfall.

"There are so many more people coming up here every year," said Lyman Fancher, who owns Columbine Cabins.

Most of Fancher's customers come to ski and snowshoe the backcountry, far from the ski lifts and groomed runs of Steamboat Ski Area 29 miles to the south.

But even here, they are always within earshot of a growing segment of winter enthusiasts who favor speed and power over the old-fashioned way of getting around in the backcountry.

This is prime snowmobile country.

One way in

The whine of engines breaks the snowy silence that falls on the century-old town.

A group of snowmobilers emerges from the woods across the road after an afternoon romp in the nearby Routt National Forest.

Where early settlers once shuffled around on wooden boards, people can get from point A to point B in 5 seconds flat aboard a Polaris 800 Pro X2.

"It's a snowmobiler's paradise," local resident Susan Saari said. "It's a cross country skier's paradise. It's a snowshoer's paradise. It's a winter wonderland."

It's also paradise lost in the minds of some people who call North Routt home.

"I can't emphasize enough the exponential growth in terms of winter recreation," said Bryan Heselbach, who lives in historic Hahn's Peak Village, a small hamlet a few miles from Columbine and the trailhead that leads to the national forest.

The village's appealing proximity to public land makes it a quick, albeit illegal, gateway to the national forest.

People on sleds speed down main street on any given weekend to avoid jostling for a parking space in a tiny lot near the public trailhead farther up the road.

Routt National Forest promises winter enthusiasts miles and miles of room to roam, but its legal points of entry are far more limited.

Three or four large trailers can easily fill the parking lot near Columbine, forcing latecomers to park their sled-carrying trucks and SUVs topped with ski racks along the county road.

"Access points really define areas of use, and right now we don't have a really decent public access," said Dana Morton, an avid backcountry skier and owner of the Hahn's Peak Cafe and Mountain Rec Company.

Snowmobilers, skiers and snowshoers are all trying to squeeze through the same entry points to reach public forests and meadows.

Government agencies, recreational groups and residents are trying to identify and provide the public another route to the forest.

FOREST, FOREST EVERYWHERE

A tight band of private property borders the national forest in North Routt and makes it difficult for the general public to reach the forest.

"There's hardly any way to get to the backcountry without trespassing or creating havoc with people's lives," resident Patti Bobonich said.

Unlike Rabbit Ears Pass, which motorists can access directly from U.S. Highway 40, people who don't claim real estate next to North Routt's federal land have little recourse.

Steamboat Lake State Park tried to solve the problem last January by purchasing more than eight acres of land adjacent to Hahn's Peak Village to link the park, which sits a half-mile from the village, with Routt National Forest.

Plans to construct a connector trail in time for summer hikers and bikers are likely going ahead. But nearby residents cried foul last summer when they got wind of plans to open up the trail to snowmobilers in the winter.

The proposed path comes within 100 feet of several homes on its way from the public park to federal land. Homeowners aren't thrilled with the idea of machines zooming by at such close range.

"We want to enjoy the quiet use of our homes," resident Shirley Stocks said.

So homeowners, along with the U.S. Forest Service, state park, Bureau of Land Management, county and recreational groups, have identified a different access point to help snowmobilers get back and forth between state and federal land.

A two-acre strip of BLM land directly across from the state park headquarters would dump winter enthusiasts onto Forest Road 410 further north of the original junction proposed by the state park.

A land exchange is hopefully in the works to give snowmobilers a badly needed access within two years, Steamboat Lake State Park Director Ken Brink said. Linking state park headquarters to the national forest would allow snowmobilers to use the park's large parking lot and hopefully alleviate congestion at the popular trailhead near Columbine.

"It's very underutilized," Brink said.

There's a sense of urgency to secure an access from the state park to the national forest, he added. Private land surrounds the state park, and opportunities for the state to purchase any of that land wanes as more people move to North Routt and buy up property, Brink said.

"The window of opportunity for the public ... is closing rapidly," he said.

DOLLARS AND SENSE

Local businesses that depend on their ability to channel people to the national forest stand to gain if a motorized route goes in.

Steamboat Lake Outfitters relies on a mile-long private trail that begins outside its back door and leads customers through private property and onto public land.

It's the lifeblood of a company that caters to customers' penchant for speed and lots of snow.

"That's what this business was bought and paid for," co-owner Chad Bedell said. "It's the only thing that gives this business value."

But the short jaunt through private property doesn't always sit well with neighbors like Bobonich, who are concerned with noise, excessive speeds and trespassers. She would like Steamboat Lake Outfitters to control noisy, speeding and wandering sleds more.

Bedell doesn't see a problem with his guests.

Steamboat Lake Outfitters attracts families looking for a break from their skiing vacation and old buddies from Minnesota who haven't seen this kind of snow in years. They are respectful of other's property, Bedell said.

He argues that many of the people who now live along the private trail knew about the access when they purchased the property. Eighty metal signs posted every few feet along the trail make the importance of staying on the trail painfully obvious to riders.

"We put a lot of money into those signs," he said.

"People ... drive a long ways to snow machine here because there's no snow at home. (They) came to Rabbit Ear Pass and Buffalo Pass, and (they) will come here."

The company aims to please the first time so guests like Phil and Debbie Crandall of Denver keep coming back for more.

Their white Ford truck pulled into the company's parking lot Friday afternoon with two Ski-Doos in tow. The couple was staying in one of the outfitter's cabins just a few feet away from the private trail.

They had no plans to cover the backcountry on skis.

"I like the amount of distance that you can cover on a snowmobile in a short amount of time," Phil Crandall said.

His weekend plans were somewhat different than Pittsburgh resident Rose Silva, who stopped by Hahn's Peak Cafe just up the road for an afternoon snowshoe tour with Morton, who outfits people with skis and snowshoes and guides trips through the backcountry.

"I wanted to get away from the noise," Silva said of her decision to see the scenery via snowshoe and not snow machine.

SHARING THE LAND

Visitors and residents alike stand by their preferred means of getting around in the snow up north.

"Everyone deserves some place where they can go for the outdoor experience they are seeking, and no one can have it all," Heselbach said.

But finding an appropriate access to the forest is the first step in resolving landowners' angst about trespassing snowmobilers and weekend congestion along county roads.

"It has the potential to solve 75 percent of our problems," county planner Chad Phillips said.

North Routt is not like Rabbit Ears and Buffalo Pass and demands a different plan to manage its recreational resources, Morton said.

Residents are headed that direction.

"When you have a lot of people that really enjoy something, you're going to have to come up with some rules of the road and planning on how to make it all work," Brink said.

History will continue to hold its ground here, in the resolve of many who still enjoy strapping on a pair of skis and heading for the backcountry. But the steady roar of machines also is inevitable.

There has got to be a better way for mechanized and non-mechanized users to coexist I the backcountry, locals said.

"There's certainly enough room for everyone," Fancher said.