Best Trails near Durango, Colorado

A good trail close to town with fantastic views up the Animas valley. We took the eastern loop which branches often to the right towards viewing places. The view at the top is fabulous. We opted to come back down the same trail as locals on the trail mentioned the western section is steep, rocky, and limited views. Overall a great 6-7 mile hike.

Love this hike! Soooooo gorgeous with the gold & red & green leaves falling! Beautiful year round!

Great hike with awesome views.

Goes down first, then back up so save a little energy. Easy. There are a few side trails, but these seem to go to campsites. When in doubt go right. Lovely aspen groves and amazing valley with aspens. Can pick any distance on this out and back since it doesn't lead to anything amazing like an alpine lake. Colors past their prime, but worth hiking in the fall. For more info and pics visit https://etbtravelphotography.com/2018/09/30/roadtrip-to-the-rockies-from-telluride-to-durango/

Did with baby and dog - challenging but doable.

Beautiful trail and awesome weather

Great trail, easy to follow, and great for kids. Our five year old completed the round trip down to the river and back up - circa 3 miles. It was not too crowded despite the weather and fall colors and there is plenty of parking at the trailhead.

Amazing trail. I was blown away. One of the best trials I’ve been on in the 40 or so hiked I’ve done in Colorado. Not easy by any means. For sure a moderate trail.

I took the recommendations below and went counterclockwise which I think was a very good idea. I started early on a Tuesday, and saw just a few people with dogs in the first mile and last mile, but no one on the rest of the trail. The views are spectacular, but beware that the trail is very rocky. Easy to lose your footing if you are not careful. The trail is adequately marked but found it helpful to have the map on my phone as well.

Nice trail! I would definitely do this one again. Just getting used to altitude. It was perfect for that. Lots of people on the trail for a Monday morning.

Great trail! Beautiful views of Durango and hard enough to get your heart going. Only one caveat, there are quit a few cyclists and one has to be careful.

I enjoyed!

The trail is 3 miles from the parking lot to the top. The last .8 miles from the fork is really steep. Beautiful views when you get there.

It was a challenge but it was worth it. Wow it view tho!

Steady climb up but the view at the top is more than worth the effort. Great short hike with lots of brilliant yellow Aspens. RT was ~3.5 hours with plenty of time at the top for lunch and water for hiking companion, Daisy the Wonder Dog. Trail is shaded ~75% of the hike. Recommended hike near Durango.

One of the best hikes with a views near Durango.

Spectacular view from the top. Good workout going up the trail.

Nice hike for kids and dogs. Lots of trees and shade.

One of my favorite hikes in the Durango area. We did it today and were thrilled to see very little fire damage. You’ll work to get to the top but the views are well worth the effort.

I do enjoy a nice loop with a view. If I were to go again I would probably stay right once I got to the main trail as it is pretty steep for about a mile and a half. You get to the top at about 2 miles and it is a little over 3 down. If you stay right it is easier going uphill then the downhill will be steeper but quicker. It can be quite rocky on the trail but it isnt the whole trail and it didnt ruin the hike for me. I gave it four stars because there are definitely better hikes around with better views but it was a great morning hike, and not having to drive an hour to get to it is definitely a plus.

Trail is open as of 09/01/18. Great hike! Easy to navigate. Great views! Took us a little over 3 hours from start to finish including stopping for photos.

Great area and we were the only one on the trail on a Sunday. I didn't even know that was possible for the Durango area. There are a few delta's the trail is very poorly marked so your going to get off path due to all the alternate paths made by the cows. The other thing is where there are many cows blazing trails there is a huge amount of bullshi* all over the paths. The views and lack of traffic made it all worth it however. I don't know that I would rate it as hard maybe a moderate my 12 year old and Jack Russel made it easily.

Nice views, super easy level trail. Our almost 3 year old "hiked" it with us. Like walking on the sidewalk in Durango but with nice views.

The app says it is a loop but there are so many forks in the road we ended up just wandering through the woods and not getting anywhere. There are no signs to indicate which path the "loop" is on. It was still a nice hike but definitely better ones around.

Love this hike! We have some parts of it many times but today we did the whole loop and it was well worth it!

Pretty views from the top and not too challenging. Not very scenic though except for the top, which is why I gave it the 3 rating.

Very short, fairly level paved trail. For someone who isn’t used to the attitude or just wants some spectacular views of Durango but doesn’t want to hike a difficult trail, this is the one.

Great views of Durango.

Beautiful hike, very visible trail. It has a very steep incline about halfway through

Nice view from the north side

After hiking to the lake and back, we hiked to the pass and abandoned mine. Great weather and you could see for miles