June 22 '23 - Venable Comanche trail near Westcliffe  is now open! 

Located in the beautiful Sangres range near Westcliffe CO. This is a fantastic ride for equines right off the Rainbow trail. Note, we do *not recommend doing the full loop to Comanche. We recommend starting at the Comanche Venable Trailhead - and doing either direction up to the bottom of the Phantom Terrace climb. We do not recommend doing Phantom terrace with an equine as more than 1 horse have been lost over the edge there in the past few years. The trails on either side though are stunning. The trail can have some sustained inclines. and can be rocky in places. Shoes are recommended. There are waterfalls, views of high peaks, aspen forests, meadows and pine forests. The trailhead has a separate trailer parking lot. It is small but can handle a few rigs of any size. On the weekends in the summer, sometimes the hikers will also park their cars here. The forest service does a good job of ticketing though so that can help.

Usually on weekdays it is open for trailers. Thank you to Trails for All for your great work on this beautiful trail. #trailsforall #venabletrail #rmbch #coloradotrailrides #coloradohorserides #rockymountainbch

TRAILS FOR ALL POST

Venable Creek Trail Maintenance Day

On Thursday, June 22nd, 2023, fifteen intrepid Trails for All volunteers met at the Comanche / Venable trailhead for a day of trail work up the Venable Creek Trail. The group broke into two smaller groups, with one headed to Lower Venable Lake to work back towards the trailhead and the other working up. Compared to last year, there were many fewer downed trees to clean up, so instead both groups spent a significant portion of their time daylighting the trail from encroaching willows! Up at Lower Venable Lake, a late lunch break was supervised by at least a half dozen fearless marmots. A good (and safe) time was had by all, and the Venable Trail is now in great shape because of our incredible volunteers! There's a great set of photos from the workday on our website at: https://www.trailsforall.co/venable-creek-2023.html