Ballard Road 3/3

Ballard Road
Larimer County, Colorado
Roosevelt National Forest 
Canyon Lakes Ranger District 
View this on the Colorado Trailheads Map

Forest Service Roads: 129, 129.A
Trail Type: Out and Back
Nearby Towns: Ft. Collins, Loveland
Nearby Trails: Moody Hill, Crystal Mountain, Old Flowers Road, West White Pine Mountain, Monument Gulch, Greer Road South, Pennock Pass
Season: Year Round
Trail Length: 8.92 miles
Elevation: 7,940 to 9,610 feet

This trail is long and filled with many different types of terrain. It's great for most SUVs, and perfect for someone new to offroading.

The trail starts on a well-graded road through private property. The private property signs on either side of the road make it appear that this is a private road, but the road is open to the public. The trail begins with a 1,000-foot climb in the first 2.5 miles through mixed meadows and woods. Several spurs leave the trail, but all are marked as private trails. Stay on the main trail.

At 1.2 miles from the trailhead a switchback cuts to the left. Greer Road South, a spur off of Ballard Road, continues to the right at a wooden sign. Keep left to stay on the main trail. Ballard Road continues to climb and descend with no obstacles as the trail winds through the woods.

At 3.9 miles from the trailhead, turn right to find a fun spur that connects to the western half of Green Road South. Follow this for a fun little climb with some rocky places that would test a stock SUV and provide some rocky fun to more modified vehicles. The area is often muddy and usually rutted. The spur ends at the intersection with the Greer Road South trail when you are 5.3 miles from the Ballard Road trailhead. There is room to turn around here and return down to the main trail.

The main trail continues to climb through a couple switchbacks and gets quite narrow. Passing oncoming traffic would be difficult during this portion of the trail as there is little room to get around another vehicle. This section is interesting as it passes more mining sites and very large piles of wood that appear to be edgings left from a sawmill operation.

The trail abruptly ends at a mining site with another large pile of the wood edgings. There is only room to park a few vehicles, but this is a good place to stop and explore or to eat lunch.

Turn around and continue back to Pennock Pass the way you came in.

Information last updated on July 27th, 2013.

Member Reports

July 20, 2013: ran by Jerry, Julie, Matt K., Monica and RogerOctober 9, 2010: ran by Austin, Gary, Matt K., Mike S., Ray,Roger, Ryan S. and WaltJuly 14, 2002: ran by Monica

Driving Directions

From the intersection of highway 287 and highway 34 in Loveland, take highway 34 west 6.5 miles to turn right on county road 27, Buckhorn Road. Follow Buckhorn Road 10.6 miles north to the trailhead for Pennock Pass as the left fork at a "Y" intersection. Take Pennock Pass west for 10.2 miles to find the Ballard Road trailhead on the left.

Meeting Places

Meet at Sandy's Convenience Store at 5649 U.S. Highway 34 in Loveland.

Additional Information

http://www.traildamage.com/images/external_link.gifCurrent Trail Status (Canyon Lakes Ranger District)http://www.traildamage.com/images/external_link.gifForest Service, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests: 970-295-6600http://www.traildamage.com/images/external_link.gifBoulder Ranger District Forest Roads Status