Trailhead / Access

The Schubarth Trail is a jeep trail just north of Rampart Reservoir. The trail starts where Loy Creek Road enters the AFA Recreation Area. The road turns into the Schubarth Trail. The Trail continues eastward, getting narrow at the point it enters the Pike National Forest. It is more a dirt jeep trail than a true trail. After crossing the cattle guard, it narrows to about a single track jeep road. At this point, some vehicles might have problems with the trail. At this point, the trail/road enters the trees and though it is pretty good, a lot of guide books suggest parking and proceeding on foot as I did.
To get to the trail, take US24 out of Colorado Springs, west to Woodland Park. At Baldwin Road (McDonalds) turn right and proceed three miles to Loy Creek Road. The road forks here and the right fork is Loy Creek. Proceed on this road past Rampart Range Road (access to Rampart Reservoir). It is a little confusing in that there are no trespassing signs all over the place. The road is public access but the property to either side is private until you get to the national forest which is about 2 miles or so.

Trail Summary

The Schubarth Trail is as I have stated a jeep trail that runs along the area north of Rampart Reservoir. It is narrow and twists around a lot. It ends at a point close to Front Range Ridge and Stanley Canyon area which is about 5 miles from the cattle guard crossing. I have not followed the main trail to the end yet. That will be another day. There is a trail that takes off to the right about 1/4 mile from the cattle guard. This is the trail that I followed for this session. There is an open area where parking was easy and it looked like someone had had a campfire here in the past.

Reservoir Trail

I am going to call the trail I followed here the Reservoir Trail because it will take you down to the Reservoir. The trail descends about xxx feet and comes out at the Reservoir trail about 4 1/2 miles along that trail as measured from the Trailhead at Rainbow Gulch. The trail is as wide as the Schubarth Trail but a little more rustic. I looks like an old jeep road that has not been used for a while. I imagine that it might have been used by fishermen as an access road to the Reservoir until it was posted for no motorized vehicles.

There is a fence at the head of the trail but it has been knocked down. I did not see any signs of vehicle traffic though. This is a nice ride or walk/run with some great views of the Peak and a mixture of pine and aspen. I would imagine this would be awesome in the fall when the colors are at their peak.