Horseshoe

Trail Overview

Horseshoe Trail has the reputation of being one of the hardest trails in Colorado. Ride this one for 6 miles and 3,500 feet elevation gain of unrelenting rocks and arm-pumping climbs. It starts and ends off of the Canyon Creek single-track trail, which is a much easier, fast, and flowy trail. Horseshoe is full of large rocky creek crossings, big boulders, roots, embedded cobble rock, loose round cobble, and steep, off-camber climbs. Large rocks might grab your swing arm, brake rotors, and rims if you're not extremely careful about your line choice. It goes through a pine tree forest that has been hit hard by beetle kill, so there's also potential for downfall here and some of the logs are now part of the obstacles. The roots are slippery, the dirt is loose, and it's easy to overheat a bike here. The loose dirt makes it hard to get traction in the steep sections of climbing. If you are up for this challenge, you'll be rewarded with epic views once you finally get up on the ridgeline underneath Stella Mountain on the north end. Don't take this one light-heartedly.

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Difficulty

This is a very advanced single track full of all kinds of rocks the entire way. Loose rocks, boulders, rocky creek crossings, and ledges make this a very technical trail. Most will not endure the trip and resort to turning back.

Technical Rating