One-way Distance: 3.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 6262 - 6416 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Phil's World
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic ridge
Lemon Head is in the Phil's World Mountain Bike Trails System near Cortez, Colorado. The trail begins at the end of Coco Race where it wraps around the short lemon colored cliffs that dominate the area. Eventually the trial ends up on top of the cliffs where it takes a fun route above Coco Race before sweeping around and forming a loop that ends at the Elbow trail. Like all of the trails in Phil's World it is intended to be one-way only ridden in the clockwise direction.
After following the Kokopelli Bike & Board trail and Coco Race for a total distance of 2.4 miles from the trailhead the Lemon Head trail begins on the left.
Lemon Head starts out as an easy singletrack with mostly packed dirt as a base and few rocks.
At the half mile point the trail bends around a switchback that leads it up to the top of the hill.
Some occasional broken slickrock and small ledges give riders something to bump over as the trail courses around the edge of the hilltop.
The trail loops around until it is heading southward directly above Coco Race. The mountains of Mesa Verde National Park form a scenic backdrop to the Phil's World trails.
The trail turns into a fast dirt track as it cuts through the trees looping westward towards the opposite side of the hill.
The trail bounces over a couple of small rocky ledges as it heads back towards the north.
A nice overlook of the Town of Cortez with Ute Mountain in the background comes up as the trail travels along the west side of the hill.
Near the 3 mile point the trail leaves the forest behind and breaks out into the open passing just below where it began.
The last part of the trail drops into the drainage on the north side of the hill.
