Name: Emerald Mountain Intermediate Tour
Rating: 4.2

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Overview

This ride links together a lot of great singletrack on the lower half of Emerald Mountain. It would be easy to make a much longer (or shorter) ride if desired, but plan ahead as the trail quality varies (in general, avoid the dirt roads).

This area is a dense network of short trails. They can be confusing, and the signage is sometimes okay, but not great. Plan on using the MTB Project mobile app to keep you on the best trails.

Description

From the parking area, head south of the Howelsen Hill ski lifts and look for wide singletrack heading uphill. This will become Bluffs Loop which climbs up and gently goes up and down around a bench above the Yampa River. Views of the town and ski area abound. There are a couple rocks and slightly steep sections, but this is generally a low-intermediate trail. Take a left on the Overlook Trail for more similar riding with great views.

Veer left on Howelsen Meadows for some easy, flat cruising through more wildflower-filled meadow and left again on Ricky's Ridge. Smooth and fun switchbacks gently climb up the mountain. The turns are a great place for beginners and intermediates to work on switchback skills - they're quite wide and great for practice.

Take another left on the beautiful Lupine Trail and follow it for half a mile until you hit Blackmere Road. Find Larry's Trail directly across. Larry's is a favorite trail and has a little bit of everything: meadows, aspens, flowers, expansive views, and great trail flow. This skinny trail is one of the best in the area.

Take a left on Prayer Flag Road, pass a couple singletracks heading uphill, and you'll eventually find Blair Witch. Enveloped in Aspen and Fern groves, Blair Witch is a beautiful trail. The trail boasts some easy, flowing contour riding as well as a long boardwalk feature.

Blair Witch ends on a different section of Prayer Flag Road, which you take to the right (downhill) a short ways until you find MGM. You are now set up for a great descent. From the top (near a watering trough - make your dog happy!), wind down through aspens and lush fern forest on skinny smooth singletrack. Break out into open meadow and make big sweeping turns with great views of town and mountains to the east.

Finish on Orton Trail with very skinny, and very fast descending until you hit Blackmere Road, which you can follow a short ways back to the start.

Shared By:

Nick Wilder

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.2 from 25 votes

#2

in Emerald Mountain

#809

Overall

4.2 from 25 votes

5 Star		60%
4 Star		24%
3 Star		4%
2 Star		4%
1 Star		8%

Recommended Route Rankings

#2

in Emerald Mountain

#194

in Colorado

#809

Overall

8 Views Last Month

15,120 Since Jun 24, 2014

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Photos

Jun 24, 2014 near Steambo…, CO

Lupine has great views of the Yampa Valley from top to bottom.

Jun 25, 2014 near Steambo…, CO

Jun 24, 2014 near Steambo…, CO

Jun 24, 2014 near Steambo…, CO

Oct 11, 2017 near Steambo…, CO

Jun 24, 2014 near Steambo…, CO

1 Comment

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 36 days ago

Update Conditions See History

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Check-Ins

Sep 25, 2024

Amy Butalla Rosene

Completed on 9/24 6.8mi — 1h 00m

Sep 16, 2024

Rachel Bowler

Sep 13, 2024

Jennifer P

Jul 24, 2024

Andrea Sinclair

Not as good as emf. More disjointed. Best to ride back up the road a little ways and take npr down to the bottom instead of the road.

Jul 17, 2023

Robert Ostner

Oct 5, 2022

Tatie Chip

Aug 24, 2022

Dave Colvin

Jun 26, 2022

Erik Kahler

13h 35m

Aug 1, 2021

Bryan W

Jul 12, 2021

Daniel Ward

Jun 25, 2021

Alex Godina

Oct 4, 2020

Peter Byrne

Aug 27, 2020

graham mendell

Aug 3, 2020

Joe Scharf

Jul 27, 2020

Nick Nedostup

9mi

Jul 24, 2020

Matthew Plott

Jun 28, 2020

Owen Park

Jun 21, 2020

Taylor Armstrong

Jun 5, 2020

Joey Buttenwieser

Sep 29, 2019

Patrick Burns

One word: smooth. This hill is made up of very typically Colorado dirt, without the rocks. Miles and miles of smooth singletrack.

Jul 13, 2019

James Cezo

Jul 5, 2019

Chris Gallus

Jun 8, 2019

Sam Hanson

Great shape!!

May 27, 2019

Steve Radabaugh

Oct 1, 2018

Dan Monroe

Sep 16, 2018

Private User

Aug 11, 2018

Lee Blazek

Jul 19, 2018

David Miller

Jun 25, 2018

cynthia weisinger

Jun 13, 2018

Ben Bohannon

Jun 7, 2018

Denise Miller

Nice loop. Flow fest is a little better but both are great. Liked climbing Larry’s

Sep 24, 2017

Sina Rapchat

Sep 9, 2017

Matt Lufkin

Aug 20, 2017

Private User

Aug 5, 2017

David Sandoval

8.2mi

Jul 16, 2017

Tal Thevenot

Awesome trail with beautiful views of town and the ski mountain!

Jul 15, 2017

Stan Crane

Jul 15, 2017

Rob S

Jul 6, 2017

Justin Nassiri

To alpine ridge and back 4.2mi

Jul 4, 2017

Justin Nassiri

5mi

Jul 3, 2017

Justin Nassiri

Great trail! Just a beginner so I had to walk quite a bit but I love the constantly changing to rain and found the views of steamboat exhilarating 4.6mi

Jul 1, 2017

Jill Syvret

15mi

Jun 18, 2017

Abram Ullrich

Jun 7, 2017

Michael Shotnik

May 28, 2017

Blake Keller

Nov 12, 2016

Eli Lowry

Oct 15, 2016

Lauren O'Connell

Sep 19, 2016

Nate Cundy

Sep 8, 2016

ed hyong

With NPR 8.2mi — 1h 16m

Aug 20, 2016

Taylor Boone

Aug 7, 2016

Taylor Eubank

Jul 15, 2016

William (Bill) Conway

Jul 4, 2016

Miranda Doran-Myers

Aug 29, 2014

Scott Darling

Great area a little confusing as to what trail you were actually on.

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Emerald Mountain Intermediate Tour

“A tour of lower Emerald Mountain's best singletrack. ”

8.6

13.8

95%

7,779' 2,371 m

6,711' 2,045 m

1,083' 330 m

1,086' 331 m

5%

18%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

Overview

Description

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#2

#809

#2

#194

#809

Photos

1 Comment

Comment Type:

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Steamboat Stinger

2020 EMERALD MOUNTAIN EPIC presented by HONEY STINGER - Half Marathon

2020 EMERALD MOUNTAIN EPIC PRESENTED BY HONEY STINGER 10-Mile

North Fork to Coulton Creek Shuttle

Pearl Lake Loop

Rock Creek + Tepee Creek Loop

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