White Ranch & Galbraith Trails
We went hiking/trail running in two places today. Our first stop was at White Ranch Park. About 10 miles outside Golden, the route to White Ranch Park is a spectacular meander through the foothills with the evergreen and snow-capped Rockies in the background—about a 40 minute drive from Denver.
A combination of grassy meadows and steep wooded ascents, White Ranch has great views of Denver, but we’ve seen better views of the mountains to the west. Upon arriving at the park, we met an unassuming, slightly scruffy guy who had presumably just finished a run—it was hard to tell he didn’t look too sweaty or otherwise stressed. Turns out that he’s from West Virginia and had just arrived the night before to take part in a trail marathon. Nice guy, obviously a hardcore runner!
The first few miles of the 5 mile run, on Belcher Trail are all downhill. The trail is mostly smooth, not as rocky as some of the other foothills trails. At the bottom of the first ascent is a relatively flat run through a meadow on the Rawhide Trail. In the sun, the soil actually glitters, and when Kevin ran in front of me the dust that his feet kicked up was actually glittery. A Google search reveals that this stuff is mica.
Of course, when you run down, you must at some point run up, and White Ranch did not disappoint in this department. Unlike some of our other ascents, the uphills had no switchbacks, and I never thought I’d actually wish for switchbacks. White Ranch’s ascents are straight up and steep! (Note: the elevation graph is for the White Ranch marathon, we can only take credit for about a third of it.)
On the way back we saw two buck. One had about a 6 point rack, and the other had 8 (possibly 10). Incredibly majestic animals.
Our second stop was Mount Galbraith Park. On our way back from White Ranch on Route 93 we decided to stop in and “take a look” at the park and take advantage of the bathrooms. Of course, our curiosity got the better of us and we couldn’t resist checking out the trail.
The trail follows the perimeter of the mountain and slowly runs up and around the mountain. To our right is up the mountain, and to our left is a vertigo-inducing drop. The trail is a little rocky in spots, but otherwise a pretty sure-footed 4.2 mile run. One of our favorites!
Finally we had a well-deserved lunch in downtown Golden at Woody’s Pizza, known for its thick pretzel style crust. We had the garden veggie pizza and it is thus far the best pizza we’ve had in Colorado. Crispy in all the right places and chewy in all the right places. Throw in $1 New Belgium beers (yes, $1) and it was a great lunch!
A combination of grassy meadows and steep wooded ascents, White Ranch has great views of Denver, but we’ve seen better views of the mountains to the west. Upon arriving at the park, we met an unassuming, slightly scruffy guy who had presumably just finished a run—it was hard to tell he didn’t look too sweaty or otherwise stressed. Turns out that he’s from West Virginia and had just arrived the night before to take part in a trail marathon. Nice guy, obviously a hardcore runner!
The first few miles of the 5 mile run, on Belcher Trail are all downhill. The trail is mostly smooth, not as rocky as some of the other foothills trails. At the bottom of the first ascent is a relatively flat run through a meadow on the Rawhide Trail. In the sun, the soil actually glitters, and when Kevin ran in front of me the dust that his feet kicked up was actually glittery. A Google search reveals that this stuff is mica.
Of course, when you run down, you must at some point run up, and White Ranch did not disappoint in this department. Unlike some of our other ascents, the uphills had no switchbacks, and I never thought I’d actually wish for switchbacks. White Ranch’s ascents are straight up and steep! (Note: the elevation graph is for the White Ranch marathon, we can only take credit for about a third of it.)
On the way back we saw two buck. One had about a 6 point rack, and the other had 8 (possibly 10). Incredibly majestic animals.
Our second stop was Mount Galbraith Park. On our way back from White Ranch on Route 93 we decided to stop in and “take a look” at the park and take advantage of the bathrooms. Of course, our curiosity got the better of us and we couldn’t resist checking out the trail.
The trail follows the perimeter of the mountain and slowly runs up and around the mountain. To our right is up the mountain, and to our left is a vertigo-inducing drop. The trail is a little rocky in spots, but otherwise a pretty sure-footed 4.2 mile run. One of our favorites!
Finally we had a well-deserved lunch in downtown Golden at Woody’s Pizza, known for its thick pretzel style crust. We had the garden veggie pizza and it is thus far the best pizza we’ve had in Colorado. Crispy in all the right places and chewy in all the right places. Throw in $1 New Belgium beers (yes, $1) and it was a great lunch!
posted by Yoko at 10:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home