Logchutes Loop #3

Dogs Leashed

E-Bikes Unknown

According to the sign boards posted at the junctions of the Logchutes Trail system - the first section Logchutes #3 Trail overlaps with Logchutes #1 and Logchutes #2 trails. This is a confusing naming system, but the following description replicates the posted sign boards.

There are multiple options to connect with other trails in the Log Chutes Trail system to make longer hikes, and it can be traveled in either direction. This area feels uncrowded and remote for being so close to town.

Logchutes #3 Trail starts from a large dirt parking area just off Junction Creek Road. The doubletrack trail starts off pretty flat, following the contour of the hillside. Parts of the beginning of the trail are sometimes overgrown with weeds. You'll wind through ponderosa pine forest and mostly be shaded. Soon, Logchutes #2 Trail branches off to the north, away from Logchutes Loop #1 and Logchutes #3.

Eventually you get a brief view of the north rim of Animas Mountain. Continue on the road until a branch heads slightly downhill and to the south. After another abrupt turn, the trail becomes singletrack and heads due north. It gets much more challenging with steep sections, rutted areas and loose rocks. After this technical bit, you'll get a few views to the east before the trail mellows out again and veers off to the west on doubletrack road. After a rolling descent you reach a trail junction where Logchutes Loop #3 heads north.

This next section of Log Chutes Loop #3 is singletrack and much more aesthetic than Logchutes Loop #1 and Logchutes Loop #2 Another short climb before the grade mellows and the trail begins another contouring traverse of the hillside. After some rolling sections through scrub oak and ponderosa, you reach some more climbing to finish off the "loop" before reaching Junction Creek Road. This trail can be ridden in either direction.