Piedra River Trail

Piedra River Trail (596) is one of the more popular trails in the Pagosa area and located in the Piedra Area. This is an excellent trail any time of the year offering something for every type of outdoor enthusiast. The trail journeys through a great mix of river canyon, meadows, and forest. Wildlife viewing, whitewater rafting, fishing, backpacking, bird watching, wildflower admiring and ample photography opportunities are to be found. The first couple of miles from each trailhead are relatively busy. However, if you venture into the inner stretches of this trail it is possible to find great solitude.

The upper trailhead is easily reached right off county road  600 and can be very busy during weekends of the peak summer season. You can do the entire length as a long day hike, or nice overnighter by shuttling a car to the opposite trailhead, or more popular is several short down and back hikes of varying lengths from the upper trail head. It serves as an excellent access trail for fishing the Piedra River and is also the beginning of the trail to Ice Cave Ridge.

If attempting the full length trip be aware that there are several hills in the middle taking you up and around a series of box canyons along the river, so  you will end up doing close to 2,000 feet of gain when traveling from the lower to upper trailhead and even going down, from upper to lower will have a gain near 1000 feet vertical.

In the winter months the Piedra River Trailhead is one of the only easily accessible trailheads. The first few miles provide a great snowshoeing or winter hiking excursion in a relatively friendly environment. If you continue on however, this trail becomes a serious undertaking in the winter months. The trail ends at the end of First Fork Road (FDR 662) at the First Fork Trailhead; this trailhead is not accessible in the winter months.

• Distance (point to point): ~11 miles
• Piedra River Trailhead elevation: 7,700 ft
• First Fork Trailhead elevation: 7,200 ft
• Maximum elevation: 7,800 feet