First Tracks at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Doug, John, and I went for a ride at Golden Gate Canyon State Park a couple weeks ago. The park rests at about 9000' above sea level and we made our "first tracks" of the winter through a healthy dusting of snow on the trails from a storm the week before.

First Tracks

Having never ridden Golden Gate Canyon before Doug and I followed John who knew the ride well. It started out with a 1000' technical switchback climb to Promontory Ridge. After that the trail skirted the backside of the ridge line treating us to views of the peaks of the Front Range and Continental Divide. It was cold and there was lots of snow in the shade.

Cold

Alex and John



The difference between the aspens on top of the ridge and in the valley below was stark. Up top they had completely shed their leaves while down below they were just beginning to turn from green to yellow.

Skeletons on Top

Green Leaves Below

The trail continued toward Tremont Mountain. After climbing it's shoulder and breaking 10,000', the trail dropped down onto Gap Road. We descended to road to the Elk Trail trailhead, which was a sick piece of singletrack that carved through more aspen groves.

Descending Gap Road

Unfortunately, the trail was closed half way down so we had to climb back up to the road again. We finished the loop by descending Mountain Base Road back to the car. The views never let up and riding down the road you could see almost 100 miles worth of the Continental Divide.

Descending the Elk Trail

Climbing Back Up

The Views from Mountain Base Road

I was amazed that I've lived in Colorado for over 4 years now and have never ridden Golden Gate Canyon. You have to pay, but I'm happy to support a local state park and have another place to add to the short list of Front Range riding. That fact that it's singletrack, semi-technical, and has some altitude only makes it more of a treat.