Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Great place to hike not far out of the city. They definitely have some challenging trails. We decided to head out there this past weekend for a short little jaunt or what I thought would be short. Did the burro trail which we thought was going to be 4.5 miles ended up being closer to 7.5. It was definitely difficult, mainly because a lot of the trail was still covered in snow and the climb to windy peak is no joke. I wish windy peak would have been a little better marked because we went right past it without really stopping to enjoy. Apart from that we really enjoyed this place and are very excited to come back to try some of the other trails. If you get sick on windy roads just know that it’s like 10 – 15 miles of windy roads from the city of golden into the park.

Golden Gate Canyon is a lovely park close to Denver with nice hikes and friendly staff and rangers. I’ve camped there twice and would go again.
However, the park map is not accurate. Here are a few inaccuracies or vagueness on the map:
1. There is a trail icon for Snowshoe Hare trail way at the top of the map right above Panorama Point. I think they meant to put the Raccoon trail icon there, because Snowshoe Hare trail is a loop in a different part of the park.
2. The map has Damascus Road ending at Works Ranch Group Area. However, the road does not in fact end there. I drove along the road, and inadvertently passed Works Ranch, following the map to the end of the road, which is wrong. Finally I turned around and asked someone who lives on Damascus Road before it enters the park again how to get to Works Ranch. They told me and I got there. There is a sign for Works Ranch on Damascus Road, but it is not clear about where the entrance to it actually is, and the inaccurate map compounds the confusion.
Also, when I got to Works Ranch after 5pm, the gate was still locked even though my group had a reservation for that day.
There is a camp office up by Reverend’s Ridge open late, but the map does not say that. (There is a star.) I ended up driving all the way back to the Visitor’s Center where on the map it says «Visitor’s Center».
Given all this, I almost drove back to Denver.
3. Beaver trail:
We started where on the map it says «TH» across the road from the Visitors Center. We took two wrong turns because of unclear map and signage: First, a right at the very beginning of the trail that went to a not very scenic overlook. You can see it on the map as a tiny green line behind the «TH». The overlook is called something like Beaver Overlook, and it is not clear that it is not part of Beaver trail. Second, after we got back on Beaver trail, we took a right to Slough Pond because it was not clear at the trail intersection that going left was Beaver trail.
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4. Snowshoe Hare:
This is not a map problem, but is a signage problem: The trail signs through the Aspen Meadow Campground area could be clearer. it is easy to accidentally walk off the trail and around the campground roads in that area.

Went camping here and had a wonderful time. Beautiful campsite and place to hike! Was truly a wonderful experience with beautiful views everywhere!

Spent two nights in one of two yurts they have at Golden Gate Canyon State Park and it was dreamy! We had a little trouble locating the park the first night on account of the Park brochure’s directions being a little convoluted. We made a wrong turn which sent us off in the opposite direction of where we needed to be going. It actually worked out well for us thought because we were routed through Blackhawk, played the penny slots for 10 minutes and won $ 600+ … LOL. Score! I have always said that Plan B is usually better than Plan A… But when we did arrive at our yurt it was dark and the ranger had kindly gone in and cranked the heat so that we wouldn’t be walking into bitter cold lodging. In addition to that, the ranger had plowed the driveway leading up to the yurt and shoveled the snow off the stairs. Very very considerate and not something we expected. The yurt itself was very cozy. The bunk beds were large enough for two adults to sleep comfortably together and for a family of 4 – 6 to stay in one yurt. Just to cover some of the details that you may or may not find on the Park’s website: bring a cooler for your food because the yurt does not have a fridge, bring plenty of wood for a campfire (we went through 4 bundles really fast), bring blankets or sleeping bags for the bunks (although the gas fire place gives off quite a bit of heat and you are not at all likely to get cold). This is a little weird to suggest but you might want to bring something you can relieve yourself in at night. The restrooms are not as close as I would have liked. And in the middle of the night you’re probably not going to want to hike down to them nor are you going to want to go squat in the woods. So, maybe bring something you can take a wiz in and then dump out the next morning. Especially if you have little ones. Just keepin’ it real folks. The other thing I’ll say is that winter is an absolutely beautiful time to stay in a yurt at this Park. We got really lucky and woke up to several inches of snow one morning. Sooo beautiful! We could sink our beer bottles into the snow in the afternoons to chill them, enjoy meals over a campfire that was right next to our yurt (there’s a picnic table too), and watch birds, rabbits and deer roam through. Lovely experience and a real memory maker. Hope you consider giving this Colorado State Park your business.

We stopped by one Sunday afternoon to go fishing. The visitor entrance attendant was friendly and helpful. There are two ponds close to each other, Slough and Kriley. We went to Kriley because it looked to be bigger of the two, and people were a bit more spread out. There is a small path and/​or trail that goes around Kriley Pond. As we walked by, we could see that a few people had caught some fish already. We were hopeful, but in the end, we were not lucky enough to catch any trout. The kids had a good time. There were skeletons of crawfish in the area where we were, but we couldn’t find any live ones.
There are a lot of picnic tables in the area of the parking lots. There’s a parking lot down below next to the pond, and one up above with a small trail leading down to the pond. The park ranger who came to check on our licenses was very nice. This is a great area to fish and relax in, and we will definitely be back for more fishing and maybe a hike.

What a hidden gem in my own backyard.
We were new to Colorado last year and never really went into this state park. I think we ignored it because it’s close and not in the mountains. Not this year!
We finally booked a night to camp here and it was wonderful. We camped in the Aspen Meadows campground. The drive in from the park entrance was breath taking. Winding up and around these beautiful foothills with views of the front range. The mountains in the distance were still snow capped when we drove through making it even more magnificent.
Our site was near a stream which the dog loved and provided the relaxing sound of a running stream throughout our night. On the other side of our site was a forested rocky area which the dog and I also loved climbing around on. We were right next to the Snowshoe Hare Trail which led us to Dude’s Fishing Hole, a beautiful little relaxing lake offering great scenery. We climbed around with the dog on some rocks and in the trees. There were families scattered around skipping rocks, picnicking or fishing, it was so peaceful!
As we were packing up in the morning a couple rangers came around and offered us maps. They were so sweet and provided us with lots of helpful information.
On the drive to Aspen Meadows you pass Panorama Point. We could have hiked from our campsite but we had a Red Rocks show to get to and decided not to. But we did park and get out to enjoy the panoramic views.
Can’t wait for our next trip, we’re extending it to three days and plan to explore much more of the park on foot!

Beautiful place, but the ‘policies’ left us sour.
We simply needed a place to camp for the night. We are in a 100% self contained camper van with no hookups. We were told we had to pay for a full hookup site if we were going to sleep in our vehicle instead of in a tent. What the??? It’s against their ‘policy’ for someone to sleep in a vehicle in a tent site. In other words, they want to squeeze as much $$ out of the visitor as possible. We should have just slept in a rest area on the interstate.
The site didn’t even have full hookups… there was no water.

Awesome place to hike! Beautiful and a great workout. I started at the Bridge Creek Trailhead and did the Mountain Lion Trail to the Burro trail. I’ll definitely be back. Gorgeous vistas and views.