Jailhouse Rock Trail

Jailhouse Rock Trail: This is one of the many unofficial trails off of Tunnel Ridge Road! You will want to park at the Auxier Ridge Parking Lot at the end of the drivable part of Tunnel Ridge Road, and walk back the foot-traffic-only section of the road for about 0.71 miles to the trailhead for Jailhouse Rock Trail on the left. If you’ve hiked to Star Gap Arch before, the Jailhouse Rock trailhead is just a little farther down Tunnel Ridge Road. There are actually one or two spots along the Jailhouse Rock Ridge that you can see Star Gap Arch! Super cool. This hike is about 1.35 miles out to the Jailhouse Rock Overlook from the trailhead. In its entirety (back to the parking lot), the whole route is about 4.12 miles. It is super easy to add on other hikes in the area as well if you are looking for more mileage! It is located right by Star Gap Trail, Double Arch Trail, the Rocky Branch Overlook Trails, Auxier Ridge (and more!). This trail has multiple different overlooks, and I’ve highlighted 3 prominent ones in this video.

Random RRG fact: The proposed Red River dam (from the 1960s) would have been located right beneath the Jailhouse Rock Overlook. I’m so happy that we still have the beautiful Gorge surroundings to hike through and marvel at instead of what would have been a big bathtub-like lake.

Anyway, this hike is a good one if you’re interested in some awesome overlooks and a *little* bit of rock scrambling. Also, the path onto the Jailhouse Rock Overlook gets very narrow at one point – with drop offs on either side – so just be careful! Especially when hiking with dogs!