River to Green Mountain Trailhead
Chosen Trail
On our second day we attempted to take the River Trail to the Green Mountain Trailhead to reach Big Meadows then go south to attempt a large loop. We only made it halfway to Big Meadows due to many downed trees. I consider this a blessing because the time to ride the full loop may have been a little too long for us. We really enjoyed this out and back. We rode for 7.3 miles and 3 hours with an ascent of 490 feet on a mostly flat trail. We did see Moose on the Green Mountain Trail!
Trail Experience
We started out by crossing the bridge over the Colorado and taking the left trail fork to the River Trail.
Just riding the River Trail made us happy. If we could go up and down this trail it would have been enough.
We went right on the Stock Trail by the cabin then took a left to follow the Stock Trail to the Green Mountain Trailhead. We passed a cabin and horse paddock.
You should continue on the stock trail past the cabin and horse paddock. We got a little lost and walked down the road instead.
Below is the trail we should have followed past the cabin then crossed the road to the Green Mountain Trailhead.
The trail was well marked and told us it was 1.8 miles to Big Meadows. This section of the trail was uphill and more of a work out for our horses.
There were sections with steps but our horses did very well going up the steps.
We crossed 3 bridges and were halfway to the Big Meadows turnoff when we came upon several downed trees that blocked the trail. We were getting tired and were happy to turn around.
We took the correct trail to cross the road and rode by the cabins to take pictures.
We were happy to ride the River Trail home and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and saw many deer.
Almost back to camp we let our horses drink and play in the Colorado river.