Type: Road/Trail, Loop
Difficulty: 6 / 10
Altitude: 6,572 ft
Elev. Gain/Loss: 1,655 ft / 1,655 ft
Dog Friendly: Yes, with leash
Jog-Stroller Friendly: Unknown
Filed Under: Hiking, Running
An established trailhead on the Lower Gold Camp Road provides easy access to the well-engineered Intemann and Palmer trails. The Red Rock trail passes several scenic overlooks as it wanders around the forests; doing the loop counter clockwise gains you a steep uphill and a long gentle downhill for your running pleasure.
Start up the stairs at the trailhead and take the Section 16 trail watching to stay on the main trail on not one of several smaller trails that go off to the right. In no time you will be back at the intersection of the Intemann Trail. (0.77 miles)
Continue west on the Red Rocks trail. At the top of the steep climb take a right. (The left is just a short out and back to a very nice overlook near point 8130. Explore it at your leisure.) After some rolling traversing to the high point of the run you will come to what is called the Palmer Trail off to the right. Do not take the trail as it heads off to private land. (You could go up the Palmer Trail 0.3 miles each way to the Nellie Rocks Overlook if you were so inclined.) (1.25 miles)
Instead continue left and begin some of the most awesome gentle downhill running around! Don't forget to check out the city down below. As you approach High Drive the trail forks in two. Both trails go to High Drive but the left is a couple of hundred yards shorter. (~1.89 miles)
When you get to High Drive (a dirt road) turn left and downhill. (0.74 miles)
When you get back to asphalt you will have 3 choices! Take the LEFT up to the Section 16 trailhead. (0.23 miles)
Note: Of course, you can run the loop in the clockwise direction and some do in fact prefer the long gentle climb with a quad busting descent. However the trick for doing the loop in this direction is paying attention as you run up High Drive 3/4 of a mile so that you can make the right hand turn onto the loop. Ending up on the Bear Creek Trail makes this a MUCH longer run!
From highway 24 heading from downtown Colorado Springs towards Manitou, turn south on 26th Street. Continue straight past the neighborhoods and a cemetary, and then open fields and an S-curve. At the first stop intersection (five-way), turn right. The trailhead is obvious 3/4 mile ahead on the right. Additional parking can be found just ahead on the left side of the road in case the lot is already full.
Posted by: tradkelly and last modified on Feb 02, 2006 by thoos
Comments
tradkelly said ...
Take heart, though. The climb up the wash from the Intemann Trail cutoff to the top near point 8150 is bloody steep and technical (it's rated 5 going downhill for MTBs), but as soon as you top out on the rolling traverse after it you'll be happy you came to run here. The run down is pure joy, the whole 3.3 miles of it. Do this run if you're in town.
Leave a Comment