Marshall Mesa
Location5258 Eldorado Springs Dr, Boulder, CO 80303
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Website |
Trail Map
Park Fees
Day use fee $5
Annual permit: $25, buy online:
https://bouldercolorado.gov/osmp/open-space-parking-permits-and-fees
There is no actual permit to display. The county keeps your license plate on record and somehow knows that you have paid when you are parked at the trail-head. The annual permit is good at Doudy Draw Trailhead, Flatirons Vista Trailhead, Greenbelt Plateau Trailhead, Marshall Mesa Trailhead, South Boulder Creek West Trailhead, South Mesa Trailhead
Annual permit: $25, buy online:
https://bouldercolorado.gov/osmp/open-space-parking-permits-and-fees
There is no actual permit to display. The county keeps your license plate on record and somehow knows that you have paid when you are parked at the trail-head. The annual permit is good at Doudy Draw Trailhead, Flatirons Vista Trailhead, Greenbelt Plateau Trailhead, Marshall Mesa Trailhead, South Boulder Creek West Trailhead, South Mesa Trailhead
Trailer ParkingAs you pull into Marshall road from 93 coming from the south, stay right. You will go up a short, steep hill and then pull to the right for designated trailer parking. We went on a busy Sunday and the regular parking was packed. We were the only horse trailer there and there was room for another 2-3 trailers.
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MountingThere are at least 2 excellent large rocks to mount from in the trailer parking lot. My Morgan Sam is at least 16.1 hands so finding a place to help me get on is a big help.
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Bathrooms
Yes, permanent portapotties
Water |
Footing |
Yes!! So there is a water spigot. It is hidden and unlabeled over by the shaded picnic table.
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The footing starts off nice with sand mixed with gravel, it quickly turns rocky. I recommend shoes or boots for your horse.
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Chosen Trail
In the description below we rode Marshall Valley to Cowdrey Draw to Mayhoffer-Singletree. My goal was to explore the way to get from Marshall Mesa to the Coalton trailhead. I have also ridden the Coal Seam, to Community ditch to Marshall Valley loop and I would consider it an advanced trail that starts off steep and rocky and should be walked only.
Horse Hazards
This is a single-track trail so every hiker or biker needs to yield to horses and it is more difficult to easily get out of their way. This is a moderately difficult trail. There are multiple gates to open and close, all of the gates have springs so they spring closed, they tend to slam with a loud noise.
There are quite a few trash cans you pass on the trail at the beginning. Yes, they are stationary objects but they can be quite scary.
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There are multiple bridges to cross. The first bridge is wooden and narrow and I needed to dismount to give my horse Sam the courage to cross it. In the picture below the trail continues to the bottom left. The stairs are a part of the Marshall Mesa trail that continues to climb up to the top of the hill to connect with Flatirons Vista. Marshall Mesa trail is a pretty steep, rocky and a difficult, advanced equestrian trail.
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The rest of the bridges are steel and a lot wider and Sam went over them willingly. There is at least one exposed drain-pipe that you need to step over. There is also some kind of a remnant of a brick building that gave my horse pause. It is right on the trail so you do need to walk past it.
I saw at least one bench. Benches are great you just never know when they jump at your horse from nowhere. There are also at least two places where the trail is covered by flat rock. It is easy to walk across but may be a obstacle that challenges timid riders.
As you go from Cowdrey Draw to Mayhoffer-Singletree trail you do cross a paved road, S. 66th street. It is a narrow road and mostly had cars parked along where hikers and bikers had parked to avoid the $5 daily parking. Sam is a rock-star and took all this in and didn't think twice about it. There are also lots of walkers with dogs. All the dogs we met were on leash and did not cause a problem. We even met a Great Dane who was a little unsure of what exactly Sam was.
Safety Tips
I love going with my husband and his bike. He holds all the swing gates open for me so I don't have to dismount. We also carry walkie-talkies so he can ride ahead on the down-hill parts and I can trot up-hill without worrying about losing him. On this particular day my walkie-talkie battery died but it still worked out ok.
Trail Experience
I love this trail despite all of the trail hazards and rocky footing. I rode Sam and my husband rode his bike from Marshall Valley to Cowdrey Draw to the Mayhoffer-Singletree about 2 miles out an back for a total of 4 miles. It took us about an hour. All of the bikers were extremely courteous the day I did this trail. They scooted to the side and yielded and were pretty happy to see a horse. I would recommend going on a week-day when there is less foot-traffic. The single-track makes it hard to get off the trail to let bikers pass.
Trail Connections
If you follow Marshall Valley to Cowdrey Draw to Mayoffer-Singletree you eventually end up at the Coalton trail-head. It would be nice to park a trailer at Marshall Mesa but then to also have a trailer at Coalton so you could just ride the trail one way. It is also possible to ride from Marshall Mesa trail-head to Coalton to Flatirons Vista in a nice big loop that is about 14 miles.
Pace
Starting out we walked and trotted when the rocks were not too bad. As we took a left on Cowdrey Draw I could trot more easily. As we connected to the Mayhoffer-Singletree we really trotted out. When we turned around to head back I had an amazing canter up and down the rolling hills. It probably did startle some bikers to see a big black horse cantering up the hill but they were very pleasant and yielded the trail.
Rating
Moderately Difficult
This rating is mostly due to the large variety of horse hazards, single-track path and rocky footing. I have an amazing Morgan gelding Sam, this was his first time at this trail and nothing fazed him.
This rating is mostly due to the large variety of horse hazards, single-track path and rocky footing. I have an amazing Morgan gelding Sam, this was his first time at this trail and nothing fazed him.