Oak Creek Trail (207)

Oak Creek Trail (ref 207) is a steep hiking route on the west side of Ouray, Colorado. It’s used as a connector with the nearby Twin Peaks route, sharing the same trailhead access on Oak Street with the Silvershield and Twin Peaks systems.

From the trailhead, the route climbs hard toward the Oak Creek Gorge. It includes a junction where you’ll move off the shared alignment and into Oak Creek Gorge, where the terrain becomes increasingly steep.

Expect creek crossings and narrow, drop-off–prone sections around the gorge area. The creek crossing can be impassable at high water, and the commonly described crossing is farther upstream (not at the first place the trail touches creek level).

The route also passes historic mining features in the Oak Creek area, including Rock of Ages Mine portals and nearby relics/cabin remains. These are positioned after a steep stretch that leads you into denser forest before opening again.

Near the mining area, route-finding can matter: there’s described use of “silver diamond” trail markers after leaving the junction for the gorge-focused fork and after the mine portals. From there the trail continues up toward an overlook point along the gorge corridor.

This route is short enough for a demanding out-and-back effort; one commonly reported round-trip distance is about 6.8 miles, with steep climbing that reaches high elevations (reported ranges place the top around the 10,700–10,800 ft level).

More information: Official website, Visitor information, Twin Peaks - gjhikes.com