Boulder Hiking Trails, 5th Edition: The Best of the Plains, Foothills, and Mountains

Plains

Subdivisions and shopping centers cover much of what was once prairie and, later, agricultural land in eastern Boulder County. Fortunately, some land is being preserved by various city and county parks and open space departments, which have developed most of the trails described in this section. Most of these trails are easy, with little elevation change, and can be hiked or run at any time of year. In summer, they are more pleasant early or late in the day, and in winter many are good for ski touring immediately after a heavy snowstorm.

The trail around McIntosh Lake goes through peaceful pastoral surroundings.

HIGHLIGHTS: Ponds, birds and other wildlife, fishing, mountain views, sculptures

DISTANCE: 8 miles one way at present, 16 miles round trip

ELEVATION: 4,980 feet at Golden Ponds with negligible elevation gain

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate, depending on distance hiked

ACCESS: In Longmont, turn west from Hover Road onto 3rd Street which dead-ends at a parking area at Golden Ponds Trailhead. Other access points begin at Fairgrounds Pond and Rogers Grove (east of Hover Road), Izaak Walton Park (18 South Sunset Street), and Sandstone Ranch (1 mile east of the intersection of County Line Road and CO 119). There are additional access points from city streets.

The St. Vrain Greenway Trail follows St. Vrain Creek in Longmont from Golden Ponds to Sandstone Ranch with numerous access points and links to other Longmont parks and landmarks. Eventually the trail is slated to continue west to Lyons and east to St. Vrain State Park and the town of Frederick. For its current status and for closures, check the Longmont city website (longmontcolorado.gov/).

St. Vrain Greenway Trail

Fishermen as well as hikers enjoy Fairgrounds Lake.

Our favorite stretch links Golden Ponds and Fairgrounds Lake. We like to wind around the restored gravel pits named for the V. V. Golden Foundation that donated the parcel to the city of Longmont. These ponds attract ducks, geese, pelicans, herons, and eagles and offer superb views (and reflections) of Longs Peak and Mount Meeker. You can walk between the ponds to a bridge by a small waterfall.

Just beyond the bridge at the junction with Lichen Gulch Connector Trail, stop and check the pond for mink and beaver and look southeast for a heronry in the distant cottonwoods. Continue east through the underpass beneath Hover Road. In the area around Fairgrounds Lake look for Robert Tully’s nature-inspired stone sculptures such as Listening Stones, where you can sit to hear the amplified roar of the creek. Also, watch for osprey that have nested on a platform east of the lake since 2003.

For a short walk, Fairgrounds Lake is a good turn-around point. Otherwise, continue on to Izaak Walton Park, Left Hand Creek, the Longmont Museum on Quail Road, or Sandstone Ranch. This trail plus its many laterals allows hikers to do loops or figure-eights around ponds or to do car shuttles or key exchanges with friends, and to detour to various city parks, museums, and other points of interest (these detours are off the main trail).

CONNECTIONS: Sandstone Loop Trail, a 1.8-mile trail, climbs from the Sandstone Ranch parking lot to an overlook of St. Vrain Creek and wetlands with distant mountain views. Numerous prairie dogs and cottontails attract raptors, and white-tailed deer and wild turkeys may disappear into the thickets.

From the overlook the trail heads east, then south. It passes several fossil-rich boulders; drops below a creamy sandstone bluff; circles past the historic home and outbuildings, built by pioneer Morse Coffin in the 1860s; and climbs back to the parking lot. Just south of the Coffin House, the Sandstone Loop Trail connects to the St. Vrain Greenway Trail that crosses the creek, skirts several ponds in the Peschel Open Space, and connects to County Line Road.

HISTORY: A stone monument along the creek west of Main Street marks the site of the original cabin of Alonzo Allen and his stepson William Henry Dickens, the first farmers to arrive here in the 1860s. They founded the town of Burlington, a forerunner of Longmont. In the 1870s a group of Chicago investors created a community here and built irrigation ditches to channel St. Vrain water to their farms.

McIntosh Lake Loop

HIGHLIGHTS: Mountain views, large lake, wildlife, agricultural surroundings

DISTANCE: 3.5-mile loop

ELEVATION: 5,100 feet with no elevation change

DIFFICULTY Easy

ACCESS: From Ute Highway (CO 66) turn right (south) onto North Shore Drive, then onto Breakwater Drive, and park at Flanders Park along the lake. There are also numerous access points from Lakeshore Drive.

The loop around McIntosh Lake, named for George McIntosh who homesteaded here in 1868, has many access points with distance markers every half mile. Flanders Park, just off Breakwater Drive on the east side of the lake, includes a playground, picnic tables, and volleyball courts, and is a good starting point for the hike. If you turn left from Flanders Park, a residential area lies on your left and the lake on your right.

McIntosh Lake Loop

After passing an electrical substation and tennis courts, the trail curves around a cattail marsh to Dawson Park that stretches for several blocks paralleling Lakeshore Drive. A diversity of trees around the lake includes maples, cottonwoods, and ashes that turn vivid colors in October. Benches and picnic tables invite you to rest and enjoy the view.

Heading west you enter a more rural area. The paved trail becomes gravel and the scenery more pastoral. Farmland stretches to the west, red-winged blackbirds call from a cattail marsh, and numerous prairie dogs squeak from their burrows. Longs Peak and Mount Meeker loom in the distance. Much of the land adjacent to the trail on the west and northwest side of the lake is a wildlife preserve and closed to the public.

To complete the loop, continue east passing a residential area and return to Flanders Park.

HISTORY: George McIntosh headed west in 1860 hoping to improve his asthma (he did). He worked in mining during the gold rush, served in the Union army, and homesteaded 160 acres with his wife, Amanda Jane. Their daughter Minnie later married Hygiene postmaster George Lohr, and the couple built the 1909 farmhouse that now houses the Agricultural Heritage Center, near the north shore of McIntosh Lake. The Lohrs’ son, Shorty, sold the land to Boulder County in 1984 and later donated funds to establish the center, which opened May 12, 2001 on George McIntosh’s 164th birthday.

Cows graze near McIntosh Lake Trail while Mount Meeker and Longs Peak loom in the background.

The center is open from April 1 to October 31, Friday–Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with guided tours starting at 11 a.m. During winter it’s open the first Saturday of the month. Even if you don’t visit the site, you can see the historic house, two barns, and a silo from the trail.

HIGHLIGHTS: Views of Longs Peak and Indian Peaks, birds and other wildlife, fishing, agrarian surroundings

DISTANCE: 1.8-mile loop with spur to Webster Pond for Braly Trail; 1.1-mile loop for Marlatt Trail

ELEVATION: 5,097 feet with no elevation change

DIFFICULTY: Easy

ACCESS: From North 75th Street (just south of the town of Hygiene), turn east into the parking lot just beyond the railroad tracks. The trailhead is south of the restroom.

The ponds at Pella Crossing are reclaimed gravel pits that attract pelicans, kingfishers, ducks, beaver, foxes, fishermen, and other wildlife. Peaceful agrarian surroundings include barns, a windmill, and farm animals. Following the 2013 flood, Pella Crossing—part of Boulder County Open Space—was closed for restoration until the spring of 2017.

Pella Crossing

Yellow cottonwoods, Mount Meeker, and Longs Peak form the backdrop to Poplar Pond at Pella Crossing.

BRALY TRAIL

Braly Trail begins at the Pella Crossing Trailhead and loops around Sunset Pond and Heron Lake with a spur to Webster Pond and wetlands designed to mitigate future flood damage. As the names suggest, great blue herons can be seen here, and views at sunset or sunrise are spectacular. On a windless day at dawn, Longs Peak, bathed in alpenglow, is reflected in the lakes.

MARLATT TRAIL

Marlatt Trail also begins at the Pella Crossing Trailhead, heads northwest, and crosses 75th Street. It skirts the northwest shore of Dragonfly Pond, and circles Poplar Pond. At the southwest end of Poplar Pond a small loop trail crosses an irrigation ditch and leads to a picnic area and to St. Vrain Creek. It then returns along the shore of Clearwater Pond. In summer, cottonwoods, willows, and box-elders provide shade and habitat for orioles, warblers, and blue jays along this section—our favorite part of the trail system. Continue circling Poplar Pond to complete the main loop.

HISTORY: Early settlers, George Webster (for whom one pond is named) and Charles True, bought a homestead here in 1859 and planted plum, cherry, and apple orchards. In the 1860s the Overland Trail crossed the St. Vrain River at Upper or Laramie Crossing (original names for Pella) on the route between Denver and Laramie. Soon this community became one of the busiest towns north of Denver, even boasting a racetrack.

In 1880 the Dunkards, a sect that believed in baptism by immersion, built a church here and are thought to have named their settlement after their hometown of Pella, Iowa. They also built a sanitarium called Hygiene House and sold spring water from the base of Rabbit Mountain. Eventually, Pella faded away as commerce moved across the railroad tracks to the town of Hygiene. The Dunkard church still exists next to the Hygiene Cemetery.

Lagerman Reservoir Loop

HIGHLIGHTS: Birds, prairie dogs, and other wildlife, mountain views, large lake open to boating and fishing

DISTANCE: 1.6-mile loop

ELEVATION: 5,100 feet with no elevation change

DIFFICULTY: Easy

ACCESS: From Pike Road, halfway between North 75th and North 67th streets, turn south into the large parking lot at the trailhead.

Bald eagles often sit on the telephone poles or fish in Lagerman Reservoir, and prairie dogs seem to be ubiquitous at the 659-acre Lagerman Agricultural Preserve.

The western quadrant is closed from April until August to protect nesting osprey and other birds, but even so you can hike most of the way around the reservoir and enjoy the distant antics of the birds. Look for the osprey stick nest on a platform to the west of the trail. When the closure is in effect, it’s best to hike in a clockwise direction, crossing the dam to the east and then retracing your route when you reach the closure.

Mount Meeker and Longs Peak are reflected in Lagerman Reservoir.

Lagerman Reservoir Loop

We prefer to hike this trail in winter because there’s no shade in summer and because we can then do the entire circuit. Prairie dogs yip from colonies bordering the trail, and the snow-capped Indian Peaks and Longs Peak loom to the west. Sometimes Canada geese seem to fill the sky and the lake, and the air resonates with their cacophony.

Future expansion to the south will almost double the size of the preserve and add another trail.

CONNECTIONS: Open Sky Loop, a 4.9-mile trail, begins at the northeast end of the Lagerman parking lot and winds through agricultural land to the north, connecting several roads and irrigation ditches.

HISTORY: Frederick Lagerman founded a Lutheran congregation at the Ryssby settlement near Longmont in 1878. Church members, immigrants from Ryssby, Sweden, bought and farmed 160 acres as a prastgard, or pastor’s garden, paying a portion of his salary in crops. They also built an irrigation reservoir later named for Lagerman. The Ryssby Church, a national historical site at 9000 63rd Street, was built in 1882 and still holds Christmas services on the second weekend of December as well as a Midsummer Festival and a candlelight Santa Lucia Festival.

HIGHLIGHTS: Wetlands, waterbirds, raptors, prairie dogs and other wildlife, fishing, mountain views

DISTANCE: 1.1 miles one way, 2.2 miles round trip

ELEVATION: 5,173 feet with negligible elevation change

DIFFICULTY: Easy

ACCESS: From the Diagonal Highway (CO 119) between Boulder and Longmont, turn west on CR 39 (for Coot Lake) or on Jay Road (for Boulder Reservoir). On CR 39 drive 0.7 miles and park at Coot Lake. From Jay Road, turn right on 51st Street, drive 3.2 miles, and park at the 55th Street Trailhead on the northwest end of Boulder