Description

This trail makes a great summer hike or winter snowshoe, climbing to views over the trees on the slopes of Red Mountain at an old mine site.

The hike follows the old mining road the whole way, but don’t underestimate the difficulty.

It maintains a fairly steep grade and climbs more than 1,000 feet in 2 miles. The scenery is dense conifer forest as the road switchbacks upward for the first 1.7 miles.

It then contours across the slope of the gulch, where the gradient lessens somewhat and views open up through occasional gaps in the trees.

You can see summits to the south including the 14ers Quandary and Lincoln.

Follow the road as it crosses the gulch then takes one more switchback to emerge from the trees once more at the old mine site.

Part of the wooden structure remains as well as tailings piles and remains of some equipment.

Be careful of sharp objects and unstable ground. It is possible to bushwhack from here to the north ridge of Red Mountain a few hundred feet higher, and even the summit if you wish, but the trail ends at the mine.

Return the way you came to the trailhead for a round trip of about 4 miles.