Dawson Butte
Location1753 Tomah Rd, Castle Rock, CO 80109
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Websitehttps://www.douglas.co.us/dcoutdoors/trails/open-space-trails/dawson-butte-ranch-open-space-trail/
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PDF Map
http://www.cospringstrails.com/hikes/pdf/dawson-butte-ranch-open-space-trail-map.pdf
Trail Map
Park Fees
Free.
Trailer Parking
The parking lot is wonderful and big. You drive in one way and pull out the other. There was a sign as you drive in telling cars to park in the western side of the lot and horse trailers to park in the middle. By the time we left there were at least 10-15 trailers in the lot and we had no problem getting out.
BathroomsPorta Potty Available
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WaterNone Available.
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Mounting |
Footing |
I mounted from my trailer. No obvious accessible big rocks or tables in the parking lot.
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The footing was nice and soft. Sam was comfortable barefoot. Picasso wore front boots and Echo was barefoot.
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Horse Hazards
This is a very horse friendly, happy place to ride. The biggest hazard was a few bikers that came up on us fast around a blind corner.
Chosen Trail
We thought we would ride the large loop one way but at the southern fork going right was much more interesting than continuing around the loop. We did two separate loops on each branch of the trail. We rode 6.2 miles in about 2 hours at a brisk walk with breaks for jumping. We ascended 430 feet. The trail was soft and either wove through trees or carried us through open meadows.
Trail Experience
We started off riding left out of the parking lot heading south.
The trail footing was soft and it was really pretty riding through the trees.
We passed an in and out and Sam jumped it. The trail forks were well marked. We really couldn't get too lost. We rode the Playpen path, at the fork we took the middle trail for the Tomah Meadow Path.
We rode parallel to the road for a while. We trotted over some low jumps. If you didn't want to jump you could take an alternate trail around the jumps.
There was a really great set of 2 low logs. Sam loves to jump!
We rode across a big meadow.
At the next fork we turned right on the Dawson Butte Trail. To ride the whole loop we should have gone left. Going to the right looked more interesting and went through the trees. Going left we would have ridden more through the meadow and close to the road.
The trail wove through the forest.
The footing was soft and the trail was easy. We went left on the Playpen path back to the parking lot.
We crossed the parking lot road and took the trail heading north.
This direction the trail was shadier and snaked through the woods.
We crossed a meadow.
We enjoyed views of the butte.
At the intersection of Manger Meadow Trail and Dawson Butte Trail were a few scattered cross country jumps. We continued right up the butte.
The next part of the Dawson Butte Trail was my favorite as we rode though the woods.
We took the next right on the Stairway to Heaven Path and started climbing.
On the way up there were jumps set up on the side of the trail. We did not attempt these jumps. At the top we passed a few jumps made with old tires. Sam gave it the side-eye so we did not try to jump it.
We went right on the Dawson Butte Trail and continued descending on this trail until it intersected with the Manger Meadow Path.
We took the Manger Meadow Path then cantered and jumped through the meadow until we reconnected with the Dawson Butte Trail.
We retraced our path back to the parking lot.
Rating
Easy! This is a very horse-friendly trail with lots of forks for different routes. All the options are easy and the jumps add a lot of fun for those that want to canter and jump. I wouldn't mind riding here multiple times. I would trot and canter the trail if there was less foot traffic.