Mountain West Trails Conference
Schedule
Tue, 19 May, 2026 at 08:00 am to Wed, 20 May, 2026 at 06:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
Sweetwater Events Complex | Rock Springs, WY
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The Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation and Wyoming State Trails Program are honored to bring the second-annual Mountain West Trails Conference, which debuted in Utah in 2024, to Wyoming this May. Bringing together trail enthusiasts, professionals, and leaders from eight states — Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico — this two-day conference offers exploration in trail development, stewardship, and community engagement.
🗓️ Dates: May 19 & 20, 2026
📍 Location: Sweetwater Events Complex in Rock Springs, WY
🌐 Event Website: MountainWestTrailsConference.com
Day 1 is centered on hands-on workshops and field tours; attendees will choose between experiencing recreational opportunities firsthand and giving back to the trail community through restoration and signage projects across the Rock Springs area. The day will wrap up with a Wyoming-themed dinner and networking. Day 2 is jam-packed with engaging keynote, general, and breakout sessions.
📲 Registration: $199/person for the 2-day event OR a "Kick-off Dinner Only" option is available for $50/person
*Federal employee discounts are available. Please email [email protected] to learn more.
*Registration fees increase as we near the event.
🪙 Sponsorships: Tiers and the associated benefits are detailed in the sponsorship packet found at https://wyorec.info/MWTC_SponsorshipPacket
*Local businesses, organizations, and agencies are invited to support this significant event and showcase their commitment to outdoor recreation.
🗣️Keynote Address: Dovetail Trail Consulting
*Joe Stone and Quinn Brett bring a powerful, personal perspective to the conversation around access, resilience, and the outdoors. Through a shared keynote, they weave together their individual journeys—Joe’s life-altering speed-flying accident in 2010 and Quinn’s climbing accident in Yosemite National Park in 2017. Both sustained different levels of spinal cord injuries and now use wheelchairs full-time, an experience that reshaped not only how they move through the world, but how they relate to adventure, identity, and independence. Together, they reflect on recovery, the profound sense of loss that can come with suddenly losing access to outdoor spaces, and the long road to rediscovering purpose. From those experiences, Joe and Quinn share how they reclaimed their connection to the outdoors and ultimately became advocates and leaders working to create more inclusive access on public lands, particularly for hiking, mountain biking, and adaptive recreation.
🗣️General Session: Chris Perkins, Vice President of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable
*In this keynote, Chris will unveil ORR’s Health Vision — “America’s Outdoor Era”— a bold call to action positioning outdoor recreation as a solution to some of America’s most pressing health challenges. Drawing on evidence from emerging research and ORR’s national priorities, he will outline how time spent in nature can reduce healthcare costs, improve physical and mental resilience, and strengthen social and economic outcomes for communities across the country.
Chris will spotlight takeaways from the National Executive Forum on Health and Outdoor Recreation — the first convening of its kind bringing together leaders from the recreation, healthcare, research, policy, and wellness sectors to chart a shared agenda for integrating outdoor experiences into public health strategies. He will show how cross-sector partnerships, intentional investment, and expanded access to outdoor spaces can help address chronic disease, mental health crises, and societal disparities while unlocking the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy’s full potential.
🗣️Breakout Session Topics:
→ The E-Bike Landscape of 2026
→ Trail Tourism Readiness
→ Celebrating Federal Partnerships
→ Recreation Mapping in Rural Nevada
→ The Art of Bureaucracy: Creativity in the Federal Maze
→ The Evolution of Off-Road Vehicle Trail Systems
→ Trail Sustainability: The Cost of Doing Nothing
→ Preserving Utah’s Climbing Legacy: When Recreation Becomes Cultural Heritage
→ The Potential of the Great American Rail-Trail through the Mountain West
→ Trails & Mining: Partnership for Local Economic Development and Trail Excellence
→ From Lived Experience to Action: Dovetail Trail Consulting
→ The Trail to Graduation: How State Policy is Connecting Kids to the Outdoors
✨Audience:
→ Trail builders, planners, and designers
→ Land managers and local officials
→ Nonprofits and community leaders
→ Outdoor industry partners and advocates
✨Leave with:
→ New tools for trail development and maintenance
→ Regional and national contacts for collaboration
→ Inspiration from communities who are building access and adventure for all
✨Thank you to our sponsors:
→ Advocates for Multi-Use of Public Lands
→ Dovetail Trail Consulting
→ Arizona State Parks & Cultural Resources
→ Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation
→ Nevada OHV Program
→ Utah DNR
→ Daggett County / Flaming Gorge
→ Pushroot Brewing
→ Back Country Horseman Utah
→ Wagners CFT
→ Polaris
→ Visit Pahrump
✨Thank you to our exhibitors:
→ American Ramp Company
→ Huckleberry Hiking
→ Backslope
→ Arete Structures
→ Wheeler 1892
→ New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division
→ Dovetrail Trail Consulting
→ Utah Snowmobile Association
→ Pointe Strategies
→ American Ramp Company
→ Tucker Sno-cat
→ Visit Carson City
→ Rock Popper
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Where is it happening?
Sweetwater Events Complex, 3320 Yellowstone Rd, Rock Springs, WY 82901-2812, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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