Trailhead / Access

The trail head starts at a parking lot off of Rampart Range Road. The best way to reach it is to take highway 24 west from the Springs to Woodland Park. As you enter Woodland Park, take a right at Baldwin which is just before the McDonalds.

A couple of miles down the road, the road forks so take the right fork which will put you on Loy Creek Rd. Take this road a couple miles to Rampart Range Rd then turn right.

A couple of miles down the road you will see a small pullout/parking area on the left side of the road. This is known as Rainbow Gulch. The trail starts here.

Trail Summary

In summary, this is a moderate run with some climbs but nothing too steep. A couple of places are rocky. The trail follows the shore line most of the time but there are a couple of places where it goes inland a bit. I did not see any places that could lead you astray from the main trail but if you go more than a 1/2 mile and don't see the water...you may have wandered off the trail.

Rampart Reservoir Trail - 14.69 miles

Rampart Reservoir is a large body of water outside of Woodland Park. There is a single track trail which follows the perimeter of the reservoir. It is a good middle to long distance trail run.

Since it more remote, there is no water other than in the reservoir so you need to be sure to carry sufficent water for the run. The main trail is about 13 miles. There is a 1.5 mile or so lead in/out from the parking area.

About 1 1/2 mile down the trail, you will see a wooden bridge on the right. This is where you will come back to if you run around the entire circumference starting to the left. Running to the left will take you to the dam at about 10 miles into the run. Running to the right will only take 3 or so miles from the bridge.

If you are running left, after crossing the dam, the trail will take off at the right side of the pavement near the ranger shed.