Matthews/Winters Park Morrison Slide/Red Rock Trail

The Trailhead was easy to find and plenty of parking. From I-70 at the Morrison/Highway 93 exit (exit 259) turn south. Just about .2 of a mile from the highway you'll see the sign for Mathhews/Winters Park on the west side of the road. Turn here for the parking lot.  There are restrooms at the start of the trail.

The hike begins on the Village Walk Trail about 1.1 miles to the start of the loop.

There are 5 or 6 stream crossings. I was surprised to hear and see so much running water around these rocks. I guess in May the snow was still melting.

The harder trail is the Morrison Slide Trail. This climbs up with many rocks and switchbacks to get to the top of the ridge for the great views.

There were areas of snow and waterholes in the rocks.

Views of Bear Lake and Chatfield Reservoir furthest away.

This was the top of the ridge on the Morrison Slide Trail.

Views of the rocks as we got closer to Red Rocks amphitheater. We never saw it from our hike. We even did the extra 1.1 mile hike to the other parking lot toward red rocks.

After you complete the loop you can keep going on the Red Rocks trail or take the Red rocks trail back towards the way you came. Here is the trail further south .

This picture shows the people on switchbacks up the hill on the Morrison Slide Trail.

There is a cemetery with tombstones dating 1867 off the first village walk trail. I checked it out on the way back. Total Mileage for this hike was 6.49 miles with 1,200 elevation gain.