Trail Overview
Hermosa Creek is a fun and challenging single track on the edge of the Hermosa Creek Wilderness with extreme exposure, scenic views, and some rocky challenges. From the intersection with Dutch Creek, it side hills along a hillside in the burn area, following the edge of the mountainside. The burn was only in 2018, so the trees are still short, giving you a great view of the creek below. It switchbacks down to cross a creek. As it rides down by the creek for a moment, it has a few more enormous embedded boulders you must weave through or go up and over. It climbs back out from the creek and continues west as a narrow, shelfy trail that side-hills above the creek. Sometimes, it's way up high above the creek, cutting across a steep slope, so the drop off to the side is pretty extreme. A lot of the trail is smooth, but there are roots and embedded rocks that you have to ride over in these shelf sections. You don't want to get target-fixated on those little features and end up sliding off the side of the hill. Near the north end, it crosses a wooden bridge to the other side of the creek, then turns into an ATV trail that will take you out to the Upper Hermosa Creek Trailhead on Hermosa Park Road.
Difficulty
This trail is almost ten miles long, and has pretty extreme exposure throughout most of the route. It's extremely narrow, with no bailouts, and it will be very hard to turn around or pass other riders. There are bigger embedded boulders on some of the less narrow sections, and rock ledge obstacles. You don't want to ride this one if you are afraid of heights!
