
RIFLE CREEK VALLEY
About 5-minutes north of Downtown Rifle off Highway 13 is County Road 325, which threads its way through Rifle Creek Valley. This road begins at Rifle’s Fireside Lanes bowling alley at the corner of Highway 13 & CR 325, and travels northeast about 15 miles ending at the Three Forks Trailhead.
The first part of the drive will take you past beautiful ranches and the Rifle Creek Golf Course and features scenic views of Rifle Gap and the Grand Hogbacks.
Once you pass Rifle Creek Golf Course, you’ll drive through Rifle Gap, a notch passing through the steep ridges of the Grand Hogback. The environmental artist Christo famously hung a curtain across this gap in 1972. The road continues north along a tailwater section of Rifle Creek that’s known by local anglers as an outstanding fly fishing area with its great pocket water. The road gains elevation, bringing you to the top of Rifle Gap Dam, where you can view Rifle Gap and Mamm Peaks to the south and Rifle Gap Reservoir and Cedar Mountain to the north.
From the reservoir, you’ll drive across Rifle Gap Dam heading northeast. Over the course of the next few miles you will wind past the Harvey Gap cutoff road (CR 237), Rifle Falls State Park, Rifle Creek Riparian Zone, and the Rifle Fish Hatchery until you reach the entrance to Rifle Mountain Park.
CR 325 drives directly through Rifle Mountain Park for about 2-miles and is beautifully scenic all four seasons of the year. Its massive canyon walls will feature rock & ice climbers depending upon the time of year. Rifle Mountain Park is consistently ranked as one the top limestone climbing destinations in the country drawing amateur and professional climbers from all over the world. From the north end of Rifle Mountain Park, it’s another 3 miles until Three Forks Trailhead, which connects people to hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing opportunities and a series of forest roads that travel throughout the portion of White River National Forest known as the Flat Tops. The entire drive can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 2-hours, depending on how often you stop and enjoy the views, activities, and wildlife.