The best MTB trails in Larimer County

Limber Pine Trail is a fantastic trail through beautiful pine forests and large stands of aspen trees, with many alternate lines built in. This trail offers cross-country cruising through the forest with plenty of twists, turns, and rocks to navigate. Many of these lines feature switchbacks and large rocks, including drops and steep rollers.

The Ginny Trail is a 5.3-mile, intermediate-advanced, challenging, adventure that can be ridden both ways. It is quite rocky, making for a fun descent or a technical climb. If approaching from the Powerline Trail (the most popular way to ride it) after a short flat section, you'll begin the final ascent, which, while less steep than the Powerline Trail, presents more of a technical challenge. After reaching the top, you'll traverse the backside of the mountain and are rewarded with stunning views of Rocky Mountain National Park to the west and Loveland and Fort Collins to the east. From there, it is pretty much all downhill, featuring alternate lines, skinnys, and rock drops for added excitement.

Horsetooth Rock is an iconic landmark in the Fort Collins area. To get to the summit you must dismount your bike and complete a short scramble here up to the summit. Although the scrambling is relatively easy, it is a little exposed in places and there can sometimes be loose gravel over bare rock faces. Just move carefully, deliberately, and don't be afraid to slide on your butt on the way down! After scrambling up, you get fantastic panoramic views from this long, exposed rock summit of the surrounding area. You get especially great views of Horsetooth Reservoir, which is named after the formation you're standing on. Since the summit is fairly large, even on crowded days you can usually find a spot to eat a snack and take photos away from other people. As you explore, just be aware of steep drop offs, large gaps between rocks, and loose gravel over bare rock.

The East Valley Trail runs parallel to the main road through a beautiful open meadow. You get fantastic views of the striking red cliffs that separate the meadow from the shores of Horsetooth Reservoir, but there are several short spur trails along the East Valley Trail that will take you down to various inlets. This trail is relatively flat and accessible and is also open to hikers and horses.

After about two miles, you will hit a split in the Hewlett Gulch Trail. From here you can either take a right, left, or turn around and retrace your steps down the sloping hillside to the trailhead. If you take a left, you will climb steeply uphill on a series of switchbacks with increasingly great views. If you take a right, the trail stays relatively flat, passing some unique rock formations, and across the river a few times. Most mountain bikers go right up the flatter trail to save the switchbacks for a fun, techy downhill, however, most hikers take the left to climb uphill, so be aware of them as you ride.

The Hewlett Gulch Trailhead is located just across the highway from the Poudre Park in Poudre Canyon. There is ample parking, vault toilets, and trash cans at this popular trailhead. The Hewlett Gulch Trail ascends a gently sloping, open and sunny hillside next to, and sometimes crossing, Gordon Creek. You get great views across the canyon and can see plenty of unique plant (including cactuses!) and animal life along the way.

The Indian Summer Trail is a short, fun loop off of the main Blue Sky Trail. Most ride this loop clockwise, ascending a few hundred feet of low-grade switchbacks before reaching a flowy descent.

The Blue Sky Trail is a generally casual, super fun trail along a ridge, just south of Horsetooth Reservoir. This long trail runs north-south from Horsetooth Reservoir, through Rim Rock Open Space to the Devil's Backbone Open Space. This section of trail begins at the trailhead near Horsetooth and ends where the Indian Summer Loop begins. There is a set of steps in this section of trail that most walk, but advanced riders looking to challenge themselves might be able to find a line down. Other than this short obstacle, this section of the Blue Sky Trail doesn't have any very steep grades; it is flowy and fun with lots linkups with other trails available.