Picture Rock Details
-
Activities
- Mountain Bike
- Hike
- Trail Running
-
Riding AreaHeil Valley Ranch
Lyons, Colorado -
Difficulty Rating
-
Trail TypeSingletrack
-
Bike TypeAM, XC
-
DirectionBoth Directions
-
Climb DifficultyBlue
-
Physical RatingModerate
-
eBike Allowed
-
TTFs on TrailBerm, Rock Face
-
Global Ranking
-
Local Popularity75 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 60 in Trail Running
- 30 in Hiking
-
Land OwnerBoulder County Parks & Open Space
Picture Rock is a critical link trail out of Lyons. It's insanely popular, but for a good reason. Want to ride out of town and do some miles and come back for a beer? This trail has your name on it It's sort of a Jekyll and Hyde trail. The bottom half (after an impressive boulder "gate" that signals the beginning of the real trail) is a smooth as butter swoop-fest. Climb is easy with great views and the trails is wonderful for beginning riders. Pass "the silo" (that's a big round tower for you folks visiting from cities. Sort of like Rapunzel's tower or the tower in the Dark Tower (nerd)) and it's a different beast. Still a blue climb, but now it's full of sharp pointy rocks (look at the bones!).
There's some great history on this trail. Right after the silo, you'll pass an old quarry with a dead car in it. There's heaps of old ranching walls (both buildings and fences) made from the local sandstone. Really cool stuff to stop and look out if you need an excuse for getting off the bike for a moment or two (don't give away my secret about this one).
Downhill is a bit choppy up at the top. When the trail was new, the rocks had a great flow to them. Now, there are enough poking through that they tend to slow you down (not necessarily a bad thing). The lower section (the aforementioned swoop-fest) is amazing on the way out. Watch out for blind turns through. There are several sections where tall bushes can obscure a hiker, or biker, or zombie horde until the last second.
Disclaimer
Picture Rock is open through the lower, undamaged area of Heil. Please respect all trail closures.
Local Trail Association
-
Please consider joining or donating to the local trail association to supportdonate to earn trail karma!
trail development & maintenance.
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for Picture Rock mountain bike trail trail
-
Altitude change970 ft
-
Altitude min5,401 ft
-
Altitude max6,372 ft
-
Altitude start5,402 ft
-
Altitude end6,371 ft
-
Grade3.6%
-
Grade max-7.3%
-
Grade min21.5%
-
Distance climb5 miles
-
Distance down1,532 ft
-
Distance flat899 ft
-
Avg time00:59:22
-
Avg reverse time00:41:19
- view trail stats
- Unknown
- Snow Groomed
- Snow Packed
- Snow Covered
- Snow Cover Partial
- Freeze/thaw Cycle
- Icy
- Prevalent Mud
- Wet
- Variable
- Ideal
- Dry
- Very Dry
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
- > 96%
- > 90%
- > 80%
- > 70%
- > 50%
- < 50%
- bi-directional trail
- no data
- < 2 days
- < 1 week
- < 2 weeks
- < 1 month
- < 6 months
- > 6 months
- Downhill Only
- Downhill Primary
- Both Directions
- Uphill Primary
- Uphill Only
- One Direction
- Description
- Photos
- Description & Photos
- Videos
- most popular
- popular
- less popular
- not popular
- mountain biking recent
- mountain biking (>6 month)
- hiking (1 year)
- moto (1 year)
- Downhill Ski
- Backcountry Ski
- Nordic Ski
- Snowmobile
Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.
SavePicture Rock Trail Reports
Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail
- 0 rides
- 55 rides
- 13 miles avg distance
- 394 rides
- Last: Jan 22, 2025
Photos
Routes with this trail
Trail Products
-
Boulder Area Trails AppPhone App
3 Reviews & Comments
We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!
Create a FREE account to view trail comments and much more.
Videos
Nearby Trails
- Bohn Park 1 mile
- Bitterbrush Connector 1 mile
- Upper Bitterbrush 3 miles
- Antelope 3 miles
- Lower Bitterbrush 3 miles
- By todd
Trailforks & contributors
- #13704 - 9,278 views
- follow/subscribe
- login to download gpx or kml files.
You must enter a description before submitting.