The Air Force Academy Reopens the Santa Fe Trail and Eases Base Access

The stretch of the New Santa Fe Regional Trail that crosses the Air Force Academy, closed since March 1, reopened to walkers and cyclists on Nov. 2. U.S. citizens with a Real ID driver’s license can now apply online for a 30-day pass, and active-duty members, retirees and cadets can again bring guests onto the base in their own cars.

The Air Force Academy changed its rules for getting on base on Monday, Nov. 2, in three ways. It reopened its 6.9-mile section of the New Santa Fe Regional Trail to people on foot and on bicycles. It created a 30-day pass that U.S. citizens with a Real ID driver’s license can request online. And it restored the Trusted Traveler program, which lets a holder of a Defense Department ID card bring passengers through the gate. The trail had been closed, and Trusted Traveler suspended, since March 1. The 30-day pass is new.

The trail

The trail is the part of the change that reaches the Tri-Lakes. It follows the old Santa Fe railroad line beside Interstate 25 and Monument Creek, and the Academy’s own trail page describes it as connecting “the Tri-Lakes area (Palmer Lake, Woodmoor, Monument) and northern Colorado Springs.” The trail belongs to El Paso County Parks; the Academy provides the 6.9 miles across its land through an easement, according to the county. Bike Colorado Springs, a cycling advocacy group, called it “the sole safe, non-motorized connection between Colorado Springs and Monument” when it welcomed the reopening.

The Academy reopened the section “for public recreation on foot and via bicycle.” Users must stay on the trail corridor; stepping onto adjoining Academy land “remains strictly prohibited,” the Academy says. The county’s own rules for the trail add that users must keep to its six-foot surface through the Academy and that cyclists must wear helmets.

The trailhead lot outside the North Gate is gone: the Academy says it closed permanently in March 2022. The county lists trailheads at Palmer Lake, on Third Street in Monument and at Baptist Road. From the south, the Academy suggests the Edmonson trailhead at 250 E. Woodmen Road, and advises against the Ice Lake trailhead, where it says trains frequently block the way out of the lot, “often for several hours or longer.”

Anyone checking the county’s trail page will find it out of date. Last revised in June, it still describes the Academy section as closed under orders from U.S. Northern Command.

The 30-day pass

The new pass is for recreation: hiking, biking, fishing or visiting someone who lives on the base, between 5:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. Only U.S. citizens with a valid Real ID driver’s license may use the online form, which is linked from the Academy’s Getting on Base page. Every applicant goes through a criminal background check, and the Academy says those with felonies, outstanding warrants or “significant criminal activity” may be refused. Applicants who hear nothing within 24 hours are told to apply again. An approved pass is loaded onto the barcode on the back of the license that was registered.

A Colorado license is a Real ID if it carries a star on the front, black on cards issued since 2020 and gold on older ones, according to the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles. Cards with a black banner across the front are not.

Each person may hold one pass at a time, and a new registration cancels the old one. The pass covers public areas only. It does not admit holders to the Cadet Area, the airfield, training areas or other controlled areas, or to any gate or building that needs a card reader.

Visitors without a Real ID driver’s license must go in person to the Pass and Registration Office, outside the South Gate, with identification from the Transportation Security Administration’s list of acceptable IDs. A U.S. passport or passport card is enough on its own. A Real ID state identification card that is not a driver’s license earns a pass marked to show the holder may not drive. Permanent residents and foreign nationals need an additional document from the TSA list. The office does not accept a birth certificate or Social Security card, and a revoked or suspended license cannot be used; its holder needs another document from the TSA list. Children 17 and under need no ID or registration, though a teenager driving onto the base needs a license.

Trusted Traveler

Under Trusted Traveler, an active-duty service member, a military retiree or a cadet may bring up to five people onto the base, provided each passenger has a Real ID and is riding in the sponsor’s vehicle. The sponsor must stay with the guests the whole time they are on the installation. Guests who lack a Real ID, or are not U.S. citizens, must go through the Pass and Registration Office with their sponsor.

What stays the same

The Hosmer Visitor Center, which opened May 16 just outside the North Gate at Exit 156, is free and needs no base pass. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Other visits keep their own sign-ups. The Planetarium, whose public shows are free, still asks visitors 18 and over without a Defense Department ID to register through dated weekly links on its page, and says decisions come within 72 hours. Ticket holders for Air Force games still use the athletic department’s monthly access links. Events with more than 1,500 people will still close parts of the base behind security cordons.

Anglers should read the fine print. The Academy’s fishing page, last revised in August 2025, still says fishing “is not open to the general public” and limits it to active-duty members and retirees, disabled veterans, Defense Department civilians, cadets and sponsored guests, while the new pass lists fishing among its purposes. The two pages had not been reconciled as of Nov. 3. The Cadet Chapel, a stop on the Academy’s self-guided tour, is closed for restoration, with completion estimated in 2028.

How the base closed

The Academy has tightened its gates several times since January 2025. On Jan. 4, 2025, it began requiring every visitor to obtain a base pass and closed its section of the trail. In June 2025 it sent all visitors to the South Gate and said the trail was closed to everyone, KKTV reported. The March 1 changes cited “the current world situation” and U.S. Northern Command directives for bases in the continental United States, while stating there was “no credible threat.” It came the weekend the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the Gazette reported. That release said the measures would stay “until they are no longer deemed necessary.” The Nov. 2 release says the new rules balance security with the Academy’s role as “a premier academic and public-facing institution.”

Sources & further reading

The Independent’s own coverage: Before the Cadets: What the Air Force Bought North of Colorado Springs, on what stood on the Academy’s land before Colorado bought it from 159 owners between 1954 and 1957, including the Santa Fe railroad whose old line the trail partly follows.

Air Force Academy: U.S. Air Force Academy Updates Base Access Procedures, Reinstates Trusted Traveler Program, Nov. 2, 2026 · Getting on Base · Visitors · Hiking and Biking Trails · Fishing · Planetarium · Hosmer Visitor Center · Cadet Chapel · Installation access for athletic events · March 1, 2026 release suspending Trusted Traveler · Jan. 7, 2025 release requiring base passes

County, state and federal: El Paso County Parks, New Santa Fe Regional Trail · Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, REAL ID and Colorado · TSA, acceptable identification

Other coverage: The Gazette, Mary Shinn, Nov. 2, 2026 · KRDO, Danielle Blyn, Nov. 2, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs, Nov. 2, 2026 · The Gazette, O’Dell Isaac, March 2, 2026 · KKTV, Aaron Vitatoe, June 14, 2025

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