Wildcat Regional Park Will Run on Different Rules Than the Backcountry Trails Next Door

If you've ridden the Wildcat Mountain loops, you've had your recreation center ID with you. You've also left the dog at home and kept an eye on the sunset. Wildcat Regional Park will sit in the same northeast corner of the Backcountry Wilderness Area, and almost none of those rules will apply there.

The 202-acre park is still in design. But the Highlands Ranch Community Association has already posted how it plans to run the place, and the plan reads like a second rulebook for the same patch of ground. To see why that matters, start with the rules you use today.

The Backcountry you know runs like a fifth rec center

HRCA owns 11.2 miles of natural-surface trail in the Backcountry, split between two systems. Those trails are private and open to HRCA residents and their accompanied guests. HRCA's own trails page explains it this way: members paid to build the trails and pay to maintain them, so "the trails are like the HRCA's fifth recreation center." Staff check recreation center ID cards, and more than 150 volunteers help patrol.

Here's what each system looks like:

• Wildcat Mountain Trail System has been open since 2006. It runs about 5.5 miles across the Wildcat Mountain Trail, Ponderosa Loop and Waterin' Hole Loop, and it's mostly beginner terrain. Park at the lot at 11950 Monarch Blvd. or at Rocky Heights Middle School near McArthur Ranch Road and Monarch/Quebec.
• Highlands Point Trail System runs about 10 miles as a loop system that ties into the county trail. It's mostly beginner and intermediate riding, with steeper terrain and tighter turns. Access it from Mountain Vista High School or the Douglas County trailhead at 11700 Grigs Road.
• Douglas County East-West Regional Trail is open to the general public and adds about 12 miles through the Backcountry. It's roughly 6 feet wide in most places.

The rules on the HRCA trails are strict. Trail hours run from sunrise to sunset. Dogs are allowed only on the Rocky Gulch Trail, on a leash. They're also welcome on the county's East-West Trail. Every HRCA trail is narrow singletrack. In Colorado Community Media's report on the updated Wildcat plan, the paper described the Backcountry trails as two to three feet wide, with bikes and walkers sharing them in both directions.

The calendar matters too. The whole Wildcat Mountain Trail System closes every year from January 1 through March 31 so deer and elk can winter with less disturbance. That's also when golden eagles start courting. The Wildcat Mountain Trail itself can stay closed until September 1 if eagles nest on the mountain, and they have nested there every year since 2011.

The wildlife closures explain a lot about the new park.

How a sports-complex site became a trail park

Douglas County held the Wildcat parcel for years, and earlier plans for it had little to do with trails. In 2024 the county considered an active-use park with sports fields and possibly indoor facilities and an Olympic-size pool. Residents raised concerns about the wildlife. As Colorado Community Media reported in August 2024, a $250,000 feasibility study was paused after the commissioners' Aug. 5, 2024 meeting.

HRCA's project page says one earlier concept for the site included more than 1,000 parking spaces. The same page says about 150 elk use this land year-round.

The turning point came at the Oct. 14, 2025 Land Use Hearing. There, the Board of Douglas County Commissioners agreed to a quitclaim deed transferring the 202 acres to HRCA. The board also approved $3.5 million from the county's Parks, Trails, Historic Resources and Open Space sales tax for a walking and bike trail network with a trailhead. According to the county's announcement, HRCA accepted on the understanding that the trails would be built within three years and open to all Douglas County residents. HRCA's FAQ adds that if the trail system isn't built in time, ownership goes back to the county.

That condition is why the rules differ. HRCA will own and maintain Wildcat, as it does its other trails. But the county paid for this one, and it's meant for everyone.

Two rulebooks, one corner of the Backcountry

Here's how HRCA's published plan for Wildcat compares with the rules on its existing trails. The park will be open to the public once it's finished.

The bike-only trails answer a request HRCA has heard for years. In the Colorado Community Media piece, HRCA's Mark Giebel said trail users had asked for "some bike-only trails and those being one direction only." On the conceptual map, some bike trails run downhill only and others are the uphill returns. HRCA says the Bike Skills Area is aimed at beginner to intermediate riders. Because of insurance and risk considerations, it likely won't include expert-level features.

Rocky Gulch, the only HRCA trail where dogs are allowed today, would change too. The plan would convert this roughly 1.5-mile trail to pedestrian-only.

The wildlife rules haven't gone away. The planned trails stay north of a ridgeline along the park's southern edge, which separates them from the elk's high-use zone. HRCA points to Highlands Point as proof the approach works, since elk have kept using the habitat on the other side of a similar ridgeline there. The eastern trails would come within about half a mile of the active golden eagle nest on Wildcat Mountain. HRCA says it's working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on that section.

What's still undecided

Several details in the plan are still open. HRCA says the following questions won't be settled until final design is done:

1. Trail mileage. HRCA's project page gives different figures in different places. Surfaced multi-use trails appear as about 3 miles in one section and about 5 in another. Bike-only trails appear as about 5 miles and as 5 to 6. Natural-surface multi-use trails are listed at about 3 miles.
2. Distance to homes. HRCA says it won't know how far the trails will sit from the nearest houses until the final trail routes are set.
3. E-bikes. HRCA's FAQ says it will work with the Sheriff's Office on enforcing a county e-bike ordinance adopted in 2026. But the ordinance Douglas County commissioners approved on June 23 covers low-powered scooters and off-highway vehicles. The county's ordinance page says it does not regulate e-bikes, which remain under existing state and local rules. E-bike rules for Wildcat haven't been published yet.
4. The opening date. HRCA's current timeline has design finishing in fall or winter 2026 and construction starting in early 2027, with phased work through 2027 and an estimated opening in late 2027 or early 2028. In the Colorado Community Media report, Giebel had said HRCA hoped to open the trails "by the end of next year."

The next milestone is close. HRCA expects to post the final design and an updated map by the end of 2026. The Wildcat Regional Park project page is where updates will appear.

The next nine weeks on the trails you already have

The park won't open for at least another year, so the timing that matters right now is the winter closure. From this Thursday, about nine weeks remain before the Wildcat Mountain Trail System closes on January 1, and it won't reopen until April 1. HRCA's notice says the eagle-nesting closure on the Wildcat Mountain Trail runs only through September 1, so on its seasonal schedule the full system should be open now. It's a good time to ride the Ponderosa and Waterin' Hole loops from the Monarch Boulevard lot and look south toward the land Wildcat Regional Park will cover.

Highlands Point has no January closure listed. The public East-West Regional Trail runs from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset, and leashed dogs are welcome there. Those are the winter options while the Wildcat Mountain loops are closed.

One date to add to your calendar: HRCA's Backcountry events listing has a Winter Solstice Celebration on Dec. 19, 2026, which it describes as a cozy outdoor celebration of the solstice.

If you're wondering how a new public trailhead might change things near your street, or you just want to talk through what's coming to this corner of Highlands Ranch, I'm happy to talk it over. Vicki Zeeb is always glad to swap trail notes and share what I'm hearing from Douglas County. Let's Connect.