Cow Creek Shortcut

Total Miles
0.5

Elevation

2,119.09 ft

Duration

0.5 Hours

Technical Rating

3

Easy

Best Time

Spring, Summer, Fall

Trail Overview

This shortcut meanders through meadows and forest on a narrow dirt trail with embedded rocks, connecting Cow Creek to Mahoney Ridge. It has a shallow creek crossing with bony rocks sticking up that is lined with a bunch of dead bushes. The trail goes in and out of aspen trees for short sections, but otherwise doesn't have much shade as it mostly goes up and over the rolling hillsides. This is a good connector trail that isn't too difficult and cuts off a decent portion of the Cow Creek trail. Although short, this trail has incredible scenery through these mountains with wildflowers and underneath jagged mountain peaks.

Photos of Cow Creek Shortcut

Cow Creek Shortcut
Cow Creek Shortcut

Difficulty

This is an easy connector trail with a rocky creek crossing, narrow sections, and embedded rock.

Technical Rating

3

Status Reports

There are no status reports yet for this trail.

Access Description

The Greenhorn trails are an extensive trail system south of Ketchum Idaho that gets a high amount of use from various recreational users including mountain bikers and horses and hiking in addition to dirt biking. There's a decent-sized parking lot at the staging area for Greenhorn Trails, that can accommodate trailers, but doesn't allow camping, and gets full even on weekdays. The trails can also be accessed off of Warm Springs Road to the north and Deer Creek Road to the south, which both have places to camp. It's an extensive system with trails of varying difficulty from easy to advanced. This area can get really hot in the summer and doesn't have much shade. This area is very well signed and maintained, but most of the area doesn't have cell service, so download your maps ahead of time.

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