Horse Trail

Rating: 
One-way Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 6234 - 6370 feet
Cellphone: 2-4 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: Buzzard Gulch
Fee: none
Attractions: Optional route for horses/hikers.

The Horse trail is part of the Buzzard Gulch Trails system in the Dry Creek Recreation Area near Montrose, Colorado. The trail provides an optional route for hikers and horseback riders between the lower and upper areas of the Buzzard Gulch trails. It is the only trail in Buzzard Gulch that is closed to mountain bikers.

The Horse trail begins near the half mile point of the Buzzard Gulch trail.

As the trail branches off from Buzzard Gulch it makes a beeline toward a small hill.

The trail gains less than 100 feet of elevation as it climbs the hill but it does get moderately steep near the top.

Once the trail levels off it continues across the top of the hill where it continues to have a slight uphill trend.

The trail spends most of its time pleasantly secluded within the pinion and juniper trees.

That's about all there is to the Horse trail. It comes to an end near the 1.5 mile point of the Buzzard Gulch trail. From here it is just over a quarter mile to the right to the Bull Snake trail and another tenth of a mile past that to the top of PJ Way. Hikers and trail runners commonly combine the Horse and PJ Way trails to create a nice loop that measuring from the Buzzard Gulch trailhead comes out to about 2.8 miles round trip. If you combined the Horse trail with Buzzard Gulch the loop comes out to just under 2.5 miles. The Horse trail is a good option for hikers and horseback riders that are looking for short excursions into the Buzzard Gulch area. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.