Lee and I met James around 9:00 a.m. at the Vern’s parking lot and headed toward the Bald Mountain trailhead via Highway 287, Red Feather Lakes Road, and Manhattan Road. Lee and I were in one Wrangler and James in another, both 2-door JL Wranglers on 37s. At the trailhead we aired down, then started up the trail. It was in the mid-thirties Fahrenheit and a little breezy, especially near the top of Bald Mountain, but comfortable enough that we had the windows down for most of the ride. At one point I regretted that choice when we crossed a muddy section and mud splashed into the cabin, enough to get on the steering wheel.
None of us had run this entire trail before. On a previous trip in June 2025, we went with a group that made it about a third of the way up Bald Mountain, but turned around because of time. This time we completed all of the Bald Mountain trail as routed in Trails Offroad. We also dropped onto Green Ridge Trail for about a mile before turning back at a closed gate. According to Trails Offroad, we turned off Bald Mountain and onto Green Ridge Trail at Bald Mountain waypoint 18, or Green Ridge waypoint 12, depending on which trail guide you follow.
The end of the Bald Mountain trail meets Green Ridge Road, although this section is not considered part of the official Green Ridge Trail. We turned right on Green Ridge Road and then ran Nunn Creek. Nunn Creek ends at Roaring Creek Road, where we turned left, heading north, and continued to Deadman Road. On Deadman Road we turned right, heading east back toward Red Feather Lakes Road, and stopped at a campsite along the way to air back up.
From there we drove through the village for a bit and stopped to check out “gnome road,” a short stretch in Red Feather Lakes that has become a local attraction. By this point in the day, light snow had started to fall, and we saw the most accumulation coming down while we were walking around gnome road. Thousands of garden gnomes decorate the forest and rock outcrops along the road, and the light snow gave the area a winter feel without causing any real impact to driving conditions.
After leaving the village, the snow tapered off and stopped as we headed back toward Fort Collins. The roads stayed dry, with no snow sticking on our route home, even though we could see darker clouds and weather in the distance along parts of Red Feather Lakes Road and Highway 287. We arrived home around 3:20 p.m.
We were in 4L for most of Bald Mountain with the sway bar disconnected. There was no need for lockers on this run, although additional snow or ice could change that. There was some older snow on the trail from a storm about a week earlier, but it was not deep enough to be an issue. Aside from the brief light snow toward the end of the ride, conditions stayed manageable. The trail was quiet overall; we only came across one other group, a cluster of six or seven side-by-sides and quads that crossed our path as we were heading back on Green Ridge Trail.
