Rocky Flats
Location |
Website |
Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge: Public Access, Louisville, CO 80027
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PDF Map
Trail Map
Park Fees
Free!
Trailer Parking
The parking lot is pretty small. If you pull around on the straight side you could park 2-3 trailers. There was a lot of litter and trash in the parking lot and no trash bin.
Pulling into the lot the rangers had filled the pot-holes with large rocks of gravel. This made for a pretty bumpy ride. As you exit the park you are turning right onto 128 with a blind corner to your left. So, you have to get onto the highway and speed up very quickly because you cannot see the traffic behind you.
Bathrooms |
Water |
A porta potty. No trash can in parking lot.
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No water spigot.
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Mounting |
Footing |
I used the brown perimeter fence to mount Sam.
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It starts out really nice smooth crushed gravel and dirt. It gets pretty rocky as you pass the service road and get closer to the homestead about 1.2 miles into the trail. You could avoid the rocks by just riding the Walnut Creek Loop then taking the North Main Trail to the service road fork then turning around for about a 2.5 mile trail total.
Horse HazardsYou have to walk by the map at the entrance. There is less foot and bike traffic on this trail. Sometimes large herds of Elk can be seen. We did cross one small wooden bridge.
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Chosen Trail
We started out on the right fork of the Walnut Creek Loop to the North Main trail. We walked to the Lindsay Ranch fork to the first cabin or homestead then turned around and retraced our steps. We rode for about an hour and 10 minutes and covered around 4.8 miles. We trotted most of the way out and walked back.
Below is a proposed trail map. Right now the Rocky Mountain Greenway trail and the East Entrance does not exist.
Trail Experience
The trails are pretty well marked and if there is a fork that is a service road there will be a posted sign telling you which way to go to stay on the trail. The trail starts out really nice with soft footing and a wide trail.
We took the right fork of the Walnut Creek Loop and crossed over a small wooden bridge.
We had a good trot down this nice trail.
We snaked right then left to get onto the N. Main trail. On the way back I almost missed this connection to the Walnut Creek Loop trail by staying straight on the trail that becomes the service road (far right).
The N. Main trail is a nice double-track trail with good dirt footing with mild rocks. This would have been ok to pony Bailey so far. However, with the rocky part of the trail ahead I was glad I just had Sam.
It starts getting a little rocky. As you pass the fork to the service road it get a lot more rocky. Sam is shod on all four and has extra thick shoes in back and he was still having a hard time picking his way around the rocks. On the way back he made a big effort to walk in the grassy section of the double-track. The rocks were a little better this day (10-2019) vs when the trail first opened. It is possible that in another year or two all the foot traffic will wear down the rocks and make the trail softer.
You start to see the homestead on the Lindsay Ranch Loop on your right. We reached the fork for Lindsay Ranch Loop and turned around.
Trail Experience
Sam and I had a good ride. About 1.2 miles in the trail gets pretty rocky and Sam started to walk in the middle of the double-track trail where the grass was. He mostly tried to dive for grass and I was trying to get him to keep walking. We rode on a colder day with a storm coming in so we turned around at the fork for Lindsay Ranch.
Rating
Moderately Easy. This is a nice, quiet trail with very little horse hazards. It does get pretty darn rocky about 1.2 miles from the parking lot so do your trotting early. You could also trot the Walnut Creek Loop then walk to the fork with the service road and turn around to avoid the majority of the rocks.