Colcord Mountain

Colcord Mountain begins on Highway 260 and ends on the Young Highway. The trail turns to smooth dirt several miles off Highway 260. It turns sharply south just before the entrance to a residential area. The trail narrows and slowly begins to gain elevation as it passes through a dense Ponderosa pine forest. Approaching Colcord Mountain and its fire tower, the trail ascends steep, deeply rutted switchbacks along a narrow shelf road. The trail is well maintained east of the fire tower. The views are outstanding, but keep your eyes on the trail. A mistake here is fatal. The tower is manned during fire season but usually is not open to the public.

There is limited dispersed camping along the trail due to private property in the west and steep terrain in the east. The best camping is at the trail's eastern end at the free Colcord Ridge Campground, which has vault toilets and picnic tables.