One-way Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 5888 - 6055 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Jumbo Mountain
Fee: none
Attractions: Moderate singletrack
Horseshoe Ridge is part of the Jumbo Mountain Trails System in Paonia, Colorado. The upper end of the trail begins off of the Powerline Road close to the beginning of the Ridge of Doom and Plumbers Crack trails. From there it travels down Horseshoe Ridge for just over a half of a mile before coming to an end at the property line on the south side of the trail system. Enroute it is connected to by the Rebel Ridge trail and intersected by the Zip-N-Out trail. A short spur at the lower end of the trail connects it with the Herfendoodle and Bang Zoom trails.
To get to the trailhead head east on 3rd Street in Paonia and turn left onto Rio Grande Avenue. Follow Rio Grande as it crosses the creek and turns into Pan American Avenue and begins climbing the hill. The trailhead is at the end of Pan American Avenue. There is only room for a handful of vehicles to park at the trailhead but there is additional parking at the bottom of the hill at the Apple Valley Park where there is also a restroom.
This post begins at the lower end of the trail at the property boundary and follows Horseshoe Ridge in the uphill direction.
The trail starts out pretty easy as it heads off in the direction of Jumbo Mountain.
The slight uphill grade is hardly noticeable.
Near the quartermile point the trail crosses Zip-N-Out.
About a tenth of a mile past that it crosses an unnamed trail that runs between the Bang Zoom and Zip-N-Out trails.
As the trail continues it gets steeper as it makes its way up the crest of Horseshoe Ridge.
At the top of the climb it is connected to by the Rebel Ridge trail.
From there the Horseshoe Ridge trail levels off quite a bit.
A little before it reaches the end it passes by a high tension powerline and then passes through the legs of another set of poles.
