LOOK – Colorado now has a third hidden giant troll

Colorado has wolves, it has fourteeners and it now has three giant trolls…

The latest addition to the Centennial State’s growing troll collection was unveiled June 28 beneath the pedestrian bridge in Palmer Lake, where hundreds of residents gathered for an event called — beautifully — “Awake the Troll.”

The 8-foot-tall sculpture was forged from hand-welded steel and reclaimed materials by Monument blacksmith Jodie Bliss, a Tri-Lakes native who spent two years hammering the creature into existence. It features leaves, berries and hidden details inspired by the surrounding landscape, plus the iconic Palmer Lake Star, because as Bliss put it, “You can’t make a piece of art for Palmer Lake without putting a star in it.”

The new arrival joins two wooden giants by world-renowned Danish artist Thomas Dambo: Isak Heartstone, the 15-foot troll tucked into the forest along Breckenridge’s Trollstigen Trail, and Rita the Rock Planter, perched outside Victor near Cripple Creek. While the Palmer Lake troll wasn’t built by Dambo, it shares his spirit — whimsical, nature-loving and designed to lure people outside. The troll doesn’t even have a name yet; Palmer Lake is holding a community contest to decide.

Here’s where it gets fun for Colorado road-trippers: the three trolls now form a roughly 200-mile triangle across the state’s high country, from Breckenridge to Victor to Palmer Lake. Nobody has officially called it a “troll trail” yet, but the internet is already doing the work. It’s only a matter of time before someone slaps it on a bumper sticker.

Bliss says she hopes the sculpture becomes a generational landmark. “Maybe somebody comes out here with their young kid, and then in 20 years, they come back with their kid, and it becomes something in their nostalgia that meant something to them,” she told KKTV. “For me, I think that would be the greatest reward.”

 

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A post shared by John E. Kage (@colorado.kage)