Walking in Colorado : White Ranch Park

It's a rainy day today, but it was glorious last week, so I went on another adventure.  I am trying to make the rounds of all the Jefferson County Open Space parks this summer, because they are FREE, and finding a nice place to hike that is free is not always an easy thing.

So last Thursday I went to White Ranch Park in Golden, Colorado.
http://jeffco.us/openspace/openspace_T56_R57.htm

It is located off of Golden Gate Canyon Road, which is just off of 93, north of downtown Golden.  I have never been to this park, but I have been to Golden Gate Canyon State park also on this road, and I forgot how much I really don't like Golden Gate Canyon Road.  I can't explain exactly why, as there are plenty of curving windy roads in the foothills, but for some reason this one always gets me car sick.  So be warned, you will have to drive up a windy 35 mph road for a half hour to get here.

When I finally arrived, the view was beautiful, so it almost made the drive worthwhile.

White Ranch Park - View from Parking lot

This park has an extensive trail system, and two entrances. I would recommend accessing it from the west entrance, as most of the trails start there.  There is even camping here, as well as an equestrian campground which I thought was kind of neat for the horse lovers out there.  While here I saw other hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians. I went on a Thursday and it was not at all crowded, though I don't know how crowded it gets on the weekends.

After studying the trail map, I decided to start off on the Rawhide trail going clockwise, cut across on Wrangler's Run and join back up with the Rawhide trail which would take me back to the picnic area/parking lot, where I planned to have my picnic lunch. This is a total of 2.5 miles. I was then going to walk the Sawmill trail to where it meets the Maverick trail to create another loop of approximately 2 miles.  The trails here have many intersections so I would highly recommend taking a map with you and picking your trail combinations by the distance you want to travel.
http://jeffco.us/jeffco/openspace_uploads/whitemp.pdf
The open space website also has a trail profile where it describes the trails and their steepness.

Going in the clockwise direction the Rawhide trail is a gentle slope downhill along a wide dirt road. It travels through meadows and pine forest.  Here's a few pictures along the Rawhide Trail. I saw plenty of birds and grasshoppers and even a mule deer on this trail.

a mule deer that spotted me before I spotted it

Pine trees and boulders dotting an otherwise open meadow

The rawhide trail is intersected by the Wrangler Trail, which is a narrow foot path that slopes down through a creek bed. There were thousands of grasshoppers hopping around on this path, though I didn't see any other wildlife.

Wrangler's Run Trail

Where Wrangler's Run trail joins back up with the Rawhide trail, the uphill portion of the hike begins.  It is about .5 miles of steep uphill back to the parking lot.  The trail goes up through a forested area, so there is at least shade while you are trekking uphill.

When I got back to the parking lot, my total hiking time was about 1 hour 15 minutes.  Unfortunately it took me a lot longer to drive here than I had originally thought, so I didn't have enough time to do my second loop of Maverick and Saw Mill trails.

I would recommend this location if you have all day to explore the trails, as the drive here is long and slow.  There are quite a few picnic bench sites with grills (though there is a fire ban here right now) so it could be a great way to spend the day with friends and a picnic lunch.  It is a large park offering beautiful vistas, and a good variety of trails.

Happy Trails!!