Bear Creek Lake Park

I braved chilly temperatures on Sunday in order to take another bike ride.  I turned my focus to the southwest.  I found the start of the Sanderson Gulch trail, one of they trails that I've driven passed during my short time in Denver and thought "I can't wait to ride that one."   It only runs about three miles until intersecting with the South Platte River Trail, one of the trails I 'discovered' on my last ride.  I followed it south another three miles to the Bear Creek Trail.  Did I mention, they have an extensive trail network in Denver.

This trail gently climbs along the banks of Bear Creek into a large regional park around a lake of the same name.  In the park, the trail leaves the creek to climb steeply up a few hundred feet to Mount Carbon Summit, which delivered some of the best views of the Denver area that I have yet seen.  From this summit, I descended a short distance back to the creek and began climbing again.  At the expressway that rings the city, I turned north and began an even steeper section; though not as steep as if I'd continued west into the mountains proper.

Full Screen Version

I didn't really have much choice at this point because it was about an hour before sunset and the temperature was falling.  At Alameda Parkway, I turned east and continued to the highest point on the ride at Iron Spring park.  From here it was, with  very few exceptions, all down hill.   Coasting was a bit of a mixed blessing. The downgrade kept my speed up, but the breeze was very chilly and without much to gain from peddling I wasn't generating much extra body heat.  Needless to say I was quite happy to get back indoors.

Trip Statistics
Length: 32 miles
Ride Time: 2 hours 54 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 26 minutes
Avg. Speed: 11.0 MPH
Max. Speed: 23.9 MPH
Total Ascent: 1,300 ft.
Max Elev.: 6,120 ft.

Elevation Profile

Sanderson Gulch Trail

Bear Creek Trail

Bear Creek Lake