Lory State Park

Great for a quick ride. Easy access and scenic. Can get very busy on the weekends with hikers and horses.

A fun network of trails to ride close to Fort Collins. This area can be accessed from the Horse Tooth trail as we'll.

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Road the west valley trail out and back. It's an amazing warm up for an accomplished rider or good re/introduction for someone comfortable with some technical stuff.

Gotts review after adding the trail.

Gotta review after adding the trail.

The trails are well maintained and marked. They have something for every skill level. The view from the ridge is spectacular.
I started my ride at the Timber Group PIcnic Area and headed up Timber Trail. The Trail goes up hill until it intersects with West ridge trail. The climb on Timber trail was tough. I had to walk my bike for a while when I got into the tree line. That section has lots of rocks and tight switchbacks that were not being helped by the light snow on the ground. The second half of timber trail wasn't bad at all. I got off TImber Trail onto Howard Trail, and began my decent. Howard was technical. It had lots of switchbacks going down with so many rocks it began to hurt my hands. Don't let that turn you off to riding down this trail. It was a blast. Challenging but rideable. when I got to the bottom of the hill I rode the East & West Vally trail back to my truck. It was a easy trail with good speed, though a little crowded. I plan to go back and connect Lory Park Trails with the Horsetooth mountain trails. This park is defiantly worth a visit.

Lory is a great place to ride with something for everybody.

(1)Beginner: Easy, but good flow.
Park at Timber Group Picnic Area. Ride south on West Valley Trail it becomes South Valley Trail. Ride until you get to the houses. Return same way (best flow) OR return via East Valley Trail.

(2)Intermediate: Moderate climb, fun rocky descent.
Park at Timber Group Picnic Area. Climb Timber Trail until you reach junction with Kimmons Trail. Descend Kimmons Trail then turn right at bottom and continue as beginner ride.

(3)Expert: This is true All Mountain riding.
Park at Timber Group Picnic Area. Climb Timber Trail. Second half is steep switchbacks with small uphill obstacles. Descend via Howard Trail. Descent is steep with many medium rocks.* Review edited 10/19/2012

We rode the Valley trail today (CCW). It was a bit chilly but not too bad for mid-October. The singletrack was smooth and flowy and there seemed to be more descents than ascents. Great trail for beginner to intermediate. Lots of downhill from the south part of the trail back to the trailhead. There's even a fun jump park on the east side of the park road near the trailhead. This 49 year old had a bunch of fun there. There is a park fee, but you can avoid this by buying the annual Colorado State Park pass. P.S. if you're an intermediate rider avoid the Timber Trail!

This review is for Timber Trail of the Lory State Park (not the Valley Trail). The Timber Trail starts out at an intermediate level from the parking lot near the visitor center, then after the sign that warns that the trail is for "Experts" only, it starts getting a little more difficult to a lot more difficult (and dangerous). If you're an advanced rider then continue on up the switchbacks to the top (and back down some more switchbacks). But if you're an intermediate rider you might want to skip Timber Trail and ride the Valley trails and bike park below.
We are definitely intermediate but tried the Timber Trail anyways. We rode the majority of it but had a few crashes and ended up walking more than we wanted to. The scenery and views are awesome but the switchbacks are definitely challenging.
Next time we visit Lory we'll stick to the valley trails until we can get our skills up.

One of the areas best trails (minus the fact you have to pay to play here). Timber trail is a true single track with everything. Nice climbs, great decents wuth drops. You also get up close with the 2012 High Park Fire burn area. A must do trail.

Fun winding fast singletrack that'll give you a great after work ride, nice little workout, and new perspective on life. You feel like your on the cover of a magazine. Def. interested in combining it with Horsetooth when I'm back in CO

Timber Trail: (3.7 miles) Takes off from the Timber group picnic site, just past the visitor center. Climbs to the ridgeline and traverses over to Arthur's Rock (highest point in the park), which has great views. The total climb is ~1500ft. It’s a zigzag up thru easy grass/scrub hills, and then hits a short rocky/technical section before transitioning into a pine tree covered series of switchbacks. The switchbacks in the forest climb a very steep hill. There are a few rocky/technical/side_slope spots that seem determined to send you careening down the slope, and many of the switchbacks are very tight (hiker tight). My hopping skills aren’t always good enough to turn tightly enough on the climb, and on the descent I found myself inching around the same corners -- virtually stopped, with the bike pointed straight down the hill :). This ride is much harder than the stuff in the valley. I’d put this trail in the blue/black range. The park rates it as an expert tail. This isn’t my favorite ride, but it’s a change of pace that’s close to home. Sometimes rides grow on me, but I haven’t done this one enough to tell. I’ve only gone down the way I came up, but it appears that you can make a loop around Arthur’s rock.

Fast, smooth, winding singletrack. No tech challenge though. Combo valley trail with nomad in horsetooth to bluesky to Indian summer trail as an out and back. Really fun.

This is a nice little ride. Lots of little thorns that didn't give me any trouble but some local kids told me that they can get you...I'm not so sure about that. The coolest thing about this place is that there's a little skills park where you can ride some see-saws and rails and such. I think that might be more fun than the actual singletrack here.

You can find some great riding within Lory SP. Go up Tower Road (a 3 mile uphill slog) and take Mill Creek or Spring Creek Trails back to the Arthur's Rock TH or Soderberg TH. There are some good technical challenges and fun downhill sections - this is not the easy and bory valley trails of Lory SP.

By itself, this ride is not highly recommeded. THis ride's glory lies in the fact that it can be combined with Horsetooth to make a respectable epic with great variety.

I started at the Visitor Center, and used West Valley Trail to access Horsetooth Mountain (a separate trail on singletracks.com), and Mill Creek Trail, then hit East Valley Trail on the return. Both Valley Trails are mostly big chainring riding on smooth curvy singletrack that can be sandy. Nice contrast to Horsetooth Mountian.

South Valley Loop Trail: (2.4 mile) a popular horse and mountain bike trail that takes you to the south border of Lory State Park and the northern boundary of Horestooth Mountain Park. The tail is generally smooth and quick singletrack with some sandy and/or loose sections suitable for beginners. This is a newer trail to the State Park and bridges are currently being constructed over some of the deeper ravines. Until then, some of these dips offer some slightly more technical challenges to the trail. When used with the East and West Valley trails, it provides a nice figure 8 loop trail of approximately 7.5 miles Please be courteous to others and yield to horses and hikers, they often frequent this trail. Access is from the southern most parking area at the end of the main road and is clearly marked.

East Valley Trail: (2.2 miles) a popular horse and mountain bike trail undulates mildly over small rises and ravines while paralleling the main park entrance road. The tail is generally smooth and quick singletrack with some sandy and/or loose sections suitable for beginners. Bridges are located along the trail and span some of the larger ravines. When used with the West Valley trail, it provides a nice loop trail of approximately 5 miles. Please be courteous to others and yield to horses and hikers, they often frequent this trail. Access this trail from either from the east valley trail head parking 0.5 miles past the main entrance or from the southern most parking area at the end of the main road and is clearly marked.