Crown Hill Park
LocationCrown Hill Garland Trailhead
9357 West 26th Avenue Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 |
Website |
PDF Map
Trail Map
Park Fees
None. Free park.
Trailer Parking
The horse trailer parking is located in the smaller parking lot to the west of the main parking lot. There are two oversized spots side by side. I think it would be hard to park more than one trailer in these spots. While I was parked quite a few cars pulled in and out of the lot, they were not exactly on top of me and Sam but there was not a lot of extra room. It might be easier to park in the larger lot and to pull into two spaces. My friend Kristi brings cones with her to block the neighboring spot to keep her trailer from being blocked in place.
Bathrooms/Water |
Mounting |
There are bathrooms at the larger parking lot with water.
|
There is a picnic table right next to the trailer parking that was handy to use to mount Sam.
|
Horse Arena
There is a small horse arena by the parking lot. This is great if you need to lunge or let your horse run before riding. The footing looked pretty choppy and I don't know how often it gets graded.
Footing
The multi-use dirt trail was either hard packed dirt or gravel. Sam had front shoes but he preferred to walk on the grass next to the gravel trail.
Horse Hazards
We rode on a Friday morning on a really nice day after a series of cold and windy days. Everyone was out with their dogs. Luckily all the dogs we met were on a leash. There were bikers and walkers and lots of activity. As we started off clock-wise around the lake the inner trail was above us, this can be a little scary for horses seeing people approach at a level above their head.
Chosen Trail
Sam and I started on the inner loop around the lake then did a small portion of the outer loop by 32nd Ave. Overall, I wanted to stay away from the roads. We rode for an hour and did this loop of 1.9 miles in about 40 minutes then trotted the inner loop in another 20 minutes. Sam was pretty slow and took his time to look at all the dogs and pedestrians.
Trail Experience
We started off on the dirt multi-use trail and walked by this big tree. Sam didn't seem to mind but a lot of horses would get stuck at this first obstacle.
It was a nice wide trail by the lake. Above and to our right is the cement trail. Pedestrians and bikers were using this trail. They were above Sam's eyesight which can be scary for many horses.
We continued on the dirt path and did not take any of the forks to the left. The forks to the left go around the outer loop of the park, really close to Kipling Street and 32nd Avenue. Walking past the North-East section of the inner loop we passed the wildlife sanctuary to our left that was fenced in. This area is closed to bikes, horses and dogs.
At the next fork we went left to go around the outer loop trail that goes closer to 32nd Avenue. In the picture on the right the right fork continues the inner multi-use loop. We went left and walked next to the cement path.
We turned right. The path was close to 32nd Ave but curved away as we went east.
We took the next right and crossed back to the inner loop. We rode this trail in January and hadn't had snow for 2-3 weeks but the trail was still icy.
There were fences to block off areas to protect the grass. The orange fences didn't faze Sam.
Going from the outer to inner loop we walked by some bushes. The birds moving in the bushes did make Sam look and startle a little. I would also be careful walking through the trees especially if a biker or stroller is on the other side and is not visible to your horse.
It was a pretty easy ride past the larger parking lot and back to the trailer. Riding south-west we had a pretty view of the lake and mountains. In the spring this ride would be a lot prettier with green grass and would have been more fun for Sam to stop and graze along the way. We did a second loop on the inner trail around the north side of the lake and were able to mostly trot.
Trail Experience
I enjoyed this trail. I would have had more fun if Sam had all 4 shoes so we could trot/canter more comfortably. We went on a pretty busy Friday morning, it might be nicer mid-week with less activity. It is a good winter ride with decent footing. It is out in the open with no shade which was nice on a cooler winter day.
Rating
Moderately Difficult. This is an urban trail. There are dogs, bikers, walkers and lots of activity. All the activity on the inner loop kept Sam looking to the right. He didn't really want to trot, instead he wanted to just watch all the people walk by and try to eat the dead grass.