Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Golden: White Ranch Park
Despite the seemingly racist name, this is my favorite hike in the neighborhood so far!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Golden: Apex Park
For the record, this is more of a mountain biking trail than a hiking trail, and the *official* trail head forces hikers to climb a huge elevation gain for about 5 miles. However, renegades like us make our own trail head! Which just happens to be right across from this person's pimpalicious cabin in the mountains. If you look closely, you can see that it has a moat!
If you like funny trail names, then this is the hike for you. I believe we did the "Grubstake" loop, which was about a 2 mile trek through a nicely forested area, with not much change in elevation. This is an ideal hike for when you're hung over and want to get some fresh air, but don't want to sweat all that delicious tequila out of your blood stream. And since the actual trail head is so far away from this section of the park, you will probably only ran into one or two mountain bikers, if anyone. Also, the views of Denver and Golden are phenomenal! This picture was taken on a hazy day, but you get the picture.
Directions from Denver: Take I-70 to the Golden exit. Drive until you come to the Hwy 93/Hwy 6 intersection, and turn left onto Hwy 6. Turn right onto Lookout Mountain Road, and drive until you crest the mountain. Turn left onto Grandview Road, a left onto Bellview, and a right onto Parkview. This is a very residential neighborhood, and you might get some strange looks from the locals- a rabid looking beagle even started chasing our car! Drive until you see a road on your left, with a small gravel lot for parking on the right- you will see the trail from the road. Park here and walk left to the trail, where you'll see this sign. Enjoy!
Golden: Windy Saddle Park
Laura, Julie, and I stumbled upon this trailhead after looking for Apex Park (to no avail). Both Windy Saddle Park and Apex Park (apparently) are off of Lookout Mountain Road, which is a beautiful drive with plenty of fantastic overlooks of Denver and Golden. The trails in the park are dog-friendly, unlike the Lookout Mountain Nature Preserve (which is right next door), and the trail head is super easy to find. The trail was pretty flat and went through areas of shaded forest and exposed rock. We followed the Beaver Brook trail for about an hour and then turned around, but not before we got to a nice overlook.
Directions: from NE Denver, take I-70 to the Golden exit (US 58) and take a left at the first intersection (onto US 6). Turn right onto Lookout Mountain Road- there will be signs for the Nature Preserve, so it's hard to miss. Drive about 2 miles and turn into the trail head on the right- there is a large parking area, and will probably be a good number of cars if you go during the weekend.
Directions: from NE Denver, take I-70 to the Golden exit (US 58) and take a left at the first intersection (onto US 6). Turn right onto Lookout Mountain Road- there will be signs for the Nature Preserve, so it's hard to miss. Drive about 2 miles and turn into the trail head on the right- there is a large parking area, and will probably be a good number of cars if you go during the weekend.
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