Empire Trail System

Empire is located 37 miles West of Denver, about 25 miles South East of Winter Park. The town of Empire is small, but the trail system is surprisingly large.

Here's a map: Click to View

1. Take I-70 West and exit at 232 (Empire / Granby)
2. Bear right and merge onto CR-255
3. Follow that road until you get to Empire (easy to spot!)
4. Turn right on North Main Street - this leads up to the beginning of the trail system. It's easy to miss North Main Street and really doesn't look like it should lead to a trail system, but it does. The road is paved for a few hundred yards, then turns to a dirt road. Here's a marker showing North Main Street.

If you see this as you go along North Main Street, you're on the right road!















(A huge snow cat, used for Winter tours by the looks of things.....it's quite hard to miss)


Drive to the top of North Main Street, up a windy dirt road. Watch for falling/fallen rocks. There were plenty on the road when last visited, big enough to cause damage if not avoided. You will arrive at a large flat area as shown below.















The road to the right of the truck is where you will come up from (you'll be driving toward where the photograph was taken from). You may have to be creative with your parking as it can get full. There's enough room for several vehicles though.
















This photo was taken from the parking lot shown above, but turned 90 degrees counter clockwise. You can see the trail leading straight and then a right hand turn up the first hill. The terrain is quite rocky, with a few hardened muddy spots. Here's a photo of what most of the trail looked like as far as it was possible to travel on the day the photo was taken (there was still snow).















The rocks are big enough to make the trail difficult for beginner dirt bike riders, since dodging the larger rocks is a must! There are some deep holes in the trail too, which can make things tricky. ATVs and 4x4's probably won't have much of an issue with the rocks, although still be cautious.




















This is how the first hill looks like, the rocks are only very mild at this point.
















Further on up the trail - it was still early in the season when these photographs were taken, so there was still snow (too much snow!)





















You'll find some beautiful views of the mountains on the trail. This photo as taken from the same location as the one above.















The trail has a lot of switchbacks on it, try and bring a map if you have one as it's easy to take the wrong route. Going straight ahead (through the gate - shown in the photo above) would bring you to a old mine, which is not only off trail but dangerous!




















Here's an old mine structure, the photo taken from the trail. The trail then leads right on a switchback...















To the left is the gate and mind entrance shown in the last photo, to the right (up the hill) is the continuation of the trail. To the right (downwards) eventually leads back to the parking lot.

















This photo is taken from the switchback. The trail goes up a short, steep hill and doubles back on its self. It wasn't possible to travel much further on the trail after the switchback at the mine gate, the snow was too deep for dirtbikes and ATVs. 4x4 vehicles may be able to travel up the trail, but there was a steep drop off on one side of the trail that didn't look like it would be too vehicle friendly if you were to slip. This trail looks to be a great spot to ride in the coming few months - but definitely after the snow has melted. If you want to ride early, give it a shot, but be prepared to get bored in about an hour (the time to get to the top and bottom of rideable areas).