Red Rocks Trail Hike

Red Rocks Trail is a pleasant and easy hike just a few minutes outside of Woodland Park and a half hour out of Colorado Springs. The namesake red rock formations are quite a surprise out in the middle of a pine forest at 8,200 feet, and they are the highlight of this adventure, but this is a really worthwhile hike even aside from the red rocks. The parking area is at the entrance to the Red Rocks Group Campground, and the loop trail can be done in either direction, but this trip description will take the counter-clockwise route. Taking the trail heading south from the parking lot, stay right at the first junction. It is just half a mile to the rock formations. At the rocks there are several social trails that make it tricky to stay on the right route. The trail splits after passing a few large rock formations, and the correct route is to go left between the largest rock formations while keeping the barbed wire fence (marking the forest boundary) to your right all the way to the far end of the loop. The rocks are great to explore and climb on, and for some that might be the end of the adventure with a turn back down the trail. Doing that would mean mising a really pleasant and mostly level walk through open pine and fir forest with occassional meadows. There are some distant views of the surrounding mountains from the high point of the trail just past the red rocks. The last section of the counter-clockwise loop is on a dirt road past the group campground down to the highway.