Quick Summary: A lollipop hike through Apex Gulch west of Denver

Description

A lollipop loop that begins at the base of Apex Gulch near Golden, Colorado. The trail follows a small creek up the gulch before crossing into a small wooded area known as the Enchanted Forest. The trail winds through the forest before returning to the main trail and returning you to the trailhead.

This is multi-use trail that is popular with mountain bikers.

What You Will See

Where You Will Go

Details

Trek Report

I wasn’t really impressed with this hike. The scenery was nothing special when compared to other hikes in the area such as the Trading Post Trail at Red Rocks. There aren’t many panoramic views of the area and much of the trail is though fairly open and barren terrain. There is a small creek running through the gulch, but it heavily overgrown in most spots and hard to see. I did hike this trail early in the spring before anything had a chance to green up, which may have contributed to my negative impression of the place. It’s possible that the area could be filled with wildflowers later in the season and it would have been much prettier had the aspen been leafing. There were also many fallen trees across the trail in the forest, making travel difficult in spots. Hopefully, trail maintainers will remove them later in the spring.

The trail was heavily used by mountain bikers so I had to be constantly alert and prepared to get out of their way. There are several blind curves where the bikers appeared suddenly from behind me on the way out. Since it was down hill, they were moving quite fast and I only had moments to step out of the way. Be careful.

On a positive note, I did get to see several mule deer and a herd of elk on the trek. That’s always exciting!

Quick Summary: A short 1.4 mile loop through scenic rock formations and natural meadows in the foothills near Denver.

Description

The trail starts from The Trading Post, the park’s visitor center and gift shop. It’s a relatively flat hike that circles four of the park’s major rock formations, which give the park its name. The trail crosses Red Rock Park Rd twice during the loop and passes the Red Rocks Amphitheatre before returning to the visitor center.

It is possible to run into rattlesnakes and poison ivy in the area, but if you heed the posted signs to stay on the trail and avoid climbing on the rocks, you should be able to avoid these hazards. There are numerous unprotected drop-offs and rock stairways on this hike, so be careful and keep an eye on your little ones.

What You Will See

Where You Will Go

Details

Trek Report

I ventured up to Red Rocks from Denver on a Wednesday morning to avoid the crowds of teenagers that I’ve seen in the park on warm evenings in the past. I was happy to find that I had the place mostly to myself. I would be shooting video as well as photographs on this trip and I didn’t need a lot of other hikers around to witness my fumblings. This was my first attempt at shooting video on a trek and, while much of it didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, some of it proved to be usable.

I chose this hike as my first trek in the Denver area because I knew that trees were fairly scarce in this area and the resulting images would still look nice even though spring hasn’t fully arrived in the region. Even the trees that are present in the park look rather cool against the red rocks due to their bleached white color. I knew I could work with it and get some nice images. As it gets warmer in the summer, I can see this being a very hot hike due to the lack of overhead vegetation to give you cover. However, it is rather short, so you could easily hike it an hour or so before sunset to avoid the heat.