Red Mountain Jeanne Golay Trail

This dirt road gets you efficiently, but never too steeply, up above Glenwood Springs to a great viewpoint right next to "The Cross" which can be seen lit up at night time. This is a private land access dirt road, gated to motor vehicles at the trailhead, but open to public foot and bike traffic. The road is known as the Red Mountain Jeanne Golay Trail, named in honor of the Olympic road race bicycle champion given her training and racing efforts on this dirt road. Along the way up the road, you'll note numerous singletrack trail segments that meet up with the road. You can use these segments as you wish on the way up or down. The highest sections are the original road alignment, and feature mellower grades along the historic road bench cut. However, rockfall and erosion has turned these segments into nice singletrack. A middle section of singletrack is a relatively sustainable volunteer-built trail with some tights twists and turns. The lowest segments are steep fall-line trails with some serious deep ruts that do not make for pleasant running. The bright orange colored lift towers from the old Red Mountain Ski Area (1941-1952) can still be seen along the road.