He’s credited with leading thousands into the Colorado wilderness, and with forging a bridge that connected people of color with Rocky Mountain trails in order to break down barriers that historically shut underserved communities out of outdoor spaces.

To Happy Haynes’ best knowledge, executive director of Denver Parks and Recreation, he is also making history as the first Black individual to have a Denver Mountain Parks trail named after them.

“This is historic,” she said. “It was historic in so many ways.”

Winston K. Walker died in 2019 after 40 years of guiding people on hikes, snowshoeing excursions, and outdoor experiences. He was known as a man with an “unbridled enthusiasm” for helping newcomers of all backgrounds learn how to navigate Colorado’s natural amenities.  He “never met a stranger” on the trail, loved ones said. He also had a personal mission of helping people of color and women of color learn to master the trail. Walker co-founded hiking groups such as the Beckwourth Mountain Club and mentored other organizations seeking to diversify mountain parks.

This month the Denver City Council unanimously approved naming a trail in O’Fallon Park after Walker.

Walker was “the closest thing to Dr. Dolittle” the world has offered, the applicant Everett Brinson told councilmembers. On one hike, Beckwourth Co-founder Sid Wilson said, the group stopped for lunch and a bird landed right in Walker’s hand as though they were “kindred spirits.”

He not only guided people through mountain parks, Wilson said, but to the best mountain restaurants — who all knew Walker and rushed to clear out tables and patios when they saw his groups coming.

On July 10, the parks department and Walker’s loved ones will hold a ceremony to unveil the new trailhead sign for the new 2.9-mile Winston K. Walker Loop Trail bearing not only his name but his story.

The trail begins at the west trailhead from the parking area of O’Fallon near Evergreen and was frequented by Walker.

The previously unnamed path near Kittredge boasts dramatic views, according to the presentations at city council, and was chosen because it was fitting for someone who made a dramatic impact on the local community.

“It’s part of our birthright as Denverites to be part of this outdoor culture,” Haynes said. “And yet we have people who live with this in their backyards and haven’t had this access.”

Whether people were new to Colorado, did not have the financial means to take ski or mountain trips, or did not have a family tradition of getting outside passed down to them, Haynes said Walker’s philosophy was to make it simple. No fancy programs needed, just get people up there and walk.

When his loved ones pitched the idea of a trail naming, it just so happened that Walker’s legacy needed no introduction with Haynes.

She met Walker while serving as the first Black woman elected to the Denver city council in the 1990s, as he helped launch the Beckwourth club, an African American group “whose mission was to get more folks outdoors to hike,” to take advantage of Colorado’s wilderness and “to recognize our historical presence in this outdoor space.”

Haynes quickly came to know Walker not only as an expert outdoorsman, but as a history buff with a passion for keeping alive the stories of Black pioneers, cowboys, cowgirls, and other contributors to the American West’s story. Being outdoors is part of their heritage, she said.

“That’s why this is of such great significance to our community,” she said of the trail naming.

Most facilities within the parks were named long ago and do not reflect the community’s diversity, she said. Facilities that have yet to be named are far and few between, she said, so being able to name a trail rather than rename one is another unique factor in the trail designation for Walker.

Members of the organizations Walker worked with along with the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation spearheaded the effort to name the trail for Walker. Their petition needed 300 signatures. They easily racked up 400.

“Winston was, in many ways, the sort of godfather,” Haynes said. “These new organizations that started this work see Winston as the role model and the pioneer in terms of getting people programming.”

Among them is Pam Jiner, who met Walker in 2015 as a member of the hiking group and national women’s health movement, GirlTrek: Denver.

“GirlTrek is only for Black women. Winston was our only dude,” she said.

Walker acted as a guide for groups of 14 to 15 women from GirlTrek, and when the group promoted its walks as “Girl Trek and dude,” everybody knew “who that dude was,” Jiner said with a laugh.

The excursions were not just walks or workouts, but “time to soak in the environment, you know. To soak in the nature. He would tell us the history of every mountain area he exposed us to.” Jiner estimated Walker led her on 20 to 30 hikes over the years.

He loved any mountain trail he could find and had an affinity for Washington Park in Denver, too.

His love for Washington Park and for mentoring children combined in one of Jiner’s favorite memories of Walker, in which she watched a group of children follow behind him like a row of ducklings, playing in the lake and peeking through tall grass.

A prolific nature photographer, Walker was never without his camera. He shared his photographs with an email list that built up 1,500 recipients and on Facebook. The images “made your imagination soar,” Jiner said, calling the scenery they captured refreshing and inspiring.

“It almost dragged you out of the house. You wanted to take a hike with Winston,” she said.

Walker made everyone he met feel as though they belonged in the outdoors and naming a trailhead for him “is our responsibility,” she said.

“To make sure that he is not forgotten. That these mountains know he was there” she said.

Jiner last spoke to Walker three days before he died. From a hospital room with a mountain view, Walker told her he would be OK, she said. After his passing, she heard how Walker spent hours in his final days gazing at the mountains.

“He knew that he had made his last trip,” she said. “He longed for them. I’m sure his soul reached for them.”