Ep. 60 Derrick Nehrenberg | Mapping Brains, Mapping Trails

Crested Butte Is Home

Derrick Nehrenberg grew up in 30 different places, although most of them were in the Southeast. After high school, he attended college for a year and sold books in the summer. He was known to drive a bit fast at his summer job, however, and therefore a judge suggested a stint in the military (and yes, it's as good of a story as it sounds). So the military it was- for 5 years.

After the military, Derrick went back to college to become a behavioral neuroscientist/geneticist. He was studying mice and traits within those mice, with an ultimate goal of helping people. But he eventually decided that the best way to help people was actually to help them get outside more often. So he traded academia for the trails, and began mapping trails in Colorado.

Eventually, he and his partner began developing phone apps for trail systems and that's when the Gunnison/ Crested Butte Tourism Association asked him to not only map all 750+ miles of singletrack in the area, but to also develop a "game" for people to ride or hike all of the trails in the area, which was dubbed Trailquest. To date, five people have completed this challenge. That contest led to other applications, including turn by turn navigation and virtual racing events like the Gunnison Growler, which had to be cancelled (at least in person) in 2020 due to the Corona Virus.

Crested Butte Real Estate Minute:

Indications from the first two weeks of June are that the Crested Butte and Gunnison real estate market are recovering from Coronavirus quickly. Pending contracts have nearly doubled and inventory is once again rising (though still low overall). Stay up to date on real estate news in Crested Butte by signing up for my monthly market updates here.

Learn More:

CBG Trails/ Trailquest

TerraQuest