Alder Bench
6.5 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 799 · trail class 2 · typical grade 12-20% · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, bike, motorcycle, e-bike · motorized use allowed
Lodges
Along the way Alder Guard Station
Trailhead Alder Bench Trailhead #799 Drive there
Alder Bench Trailhead #799 the Forest Service's write-up
This Trailhead sits right behind the Alder Guard Station Cabin and the trail climbs the ridge to the west. From here you have excellent views of the Rio Grande Canyon between South Fork and Creede. This trail goes another 5 miles north to Forest Service Road 602. The trail is open to motorcycles, mountain bikes, hikers and horses but is steep and rocky in many places. The trailhead is small and only adequate for smaller vehicles.
Restrictions No Camping in the trailhead parking lot.
This trailhead on fs.usda.gov
Every trail in Rio Grande National Forest
The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.
