Spruce Meadows Open Space
LocationIn my Iphone I just googled Spruce Meadows Open Space. It is directly across the street from Greenland Open Space.
Location: From I-25, take the Greenland Exit (167) to the west and travel 1/4 mile west and 1/2 mile south. Bypass the Greenland Trailhead and continue right on the main gravel road (Noe Road) over two sets of railroad tracks. The parking area is just up a short hill on your left, on the south side of the road. |
Websitehttps://www.douglas.co.us/dcoutdoors/trails/open-space-trails/spruce-meadows-trail/
In general I do not find Douglas County's websites very helpful. It would be nice if they updated their page with current trail conditions. |
PDF Map
Trail Map
Park Fees
Free.
Trailer Parking
There is ample horse trailer parking at the trail-head off Noe Road. There was a roundpen at one corner and a huge open space. You can park along the edge or in the middle. I like to turn around on the diagonal and face the exit to make sure I am less likely to get blocked in. On the day we rode this trail there were about 5-7 horse trailers in the parking lot.
BathroomsPort-a-potty
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WaterNo water spigot. We rode past some ponds but I would not allow my horse to drink from them.
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Mounting
Just past the restrooms there is a low bench at the start of the trail. I used my truck to get on Sam.
Footing
The footing was soft packed dirt or sand. It varied from a single-track to double-track.
Horse Hazards
Parts of the trail follow an active rail-road track!! We briefly came close to the track at north-east corner which wasn't too bad. Our horses saw the train when we were riding the south-east part of the trail and my riding buddy's horse became pretty spooky. The train is pretty far away but is pretty darn loud! We saw dogs on leash but no bikers. Overall the trail was pretty horse-friendly if your horse doesn't mind trains. There is an underpass that crosses Spruce Mountain Road just north of the west parking lot. DO NOT take this route. Instead go through the parking lot headed south and continue on the well marked Spruce Meadows Loop trail. There will be a sign with a horse telling you to take the most southern trail to cross Spruce Mt. Road instead of going through the biker/hiker underpass.
Chosen Trail
We followd Spruce Meadows trail going right or counter-clockwise. We crossed Noe road and came close to the train-track at the North-East corner. We crossed Spruce Mountain Road and went South to re-cross Noe road. At this point if you want to avoid coming close to the train tracks I would ride east on Noe Road and then hook back up with the trail to go south to the parking lot. For a longer ride we continued South on Spruce Meadows trail, past the 2nd parking lot the took the trail that went the farthest south to cross over Spruce Mountain Road. Do NOT go through the underpasses, those are for hikers/bikers and are way too small for horses. We covered about 8.5 miles in 2.5 hrs but we really just walked. You could trot/canter this trail for a shorter ride.
Trail Experience
We started out on Spruce Meadows Loop trail headed right or counter-clockwise out of the parking lot. The trail was a single-track that went up and down some hills until it cross Noe road.
Crossing Noe road was easy. There were open spaces in the fence, no gates to open. Noe road was a dirt road with very little traffic.
We continued up a dirt path and around some curves and up and down some more very mild hills.
You could have a nice trot or canter up and down these wonderful hills. We had some snow 2 days before and the trail was a little muddy so we just walked.
There was not much out in the open space. Later in the spring the grass and wildflowers would be pretty. We went past a small pond as shown on the bottom left picture, then continued up a small hill.
We reached the north-east corner of the trail which did go close to the rail-road tracks. We quickly turned left and started up a private road. The trail in the grass was pretty rutted and we walked on the grass besides the trail.
There was a gate on the private road but also an opening to the left to go around.
We crossed Spruce Mountain Road then made a sharp left to pick up the trail.
This was a great place to trot or canter. The trail went up and down some very mild hills and then crossed a fenced pasture. There were signs that indicated the pastures were actively used for cattle grazing.
More great trail to trot.
And we crossed Noe road again. If you want to avoid going close to the rail-road tracks at the south-eastern side of the trail or are tired at this point then I would follow Noe road east to take up the trail going south and get back to the parking lot faster.
We crossed another pasture fence.
We reached a fork. The right trail goes to the Eagle Pass Trail. We stayed left on the Spruce Meadows Trail.
We continued on the single-track up and down some hills then around a little pond. The trail was well marked.
Then we came to a fork that was not marked and turned left. Don't do this, you want to continue straight to the 2nd parking lot then past the parking lot up the hill. By mistake I turned left at the unmarked fork and we came to an underpass. I decided there was NO WAY we were going through the underpass and we walked up to the parking lot to ask for directions.
We asked for directions from some hikers. They said going straight south from the parking lot you could either go up the mountain or under Spruce Mountain Road. Some hikers further on the trail said the trail divided and hikers/bikers go through the underpass but there is an overpass for horses.....thank goodness!!
We continued up the hill and took the next right at the fork or went straight. Looking at the sign the left trail goes under Spruce Mountain Road via an underpass. Go straight then you will see the trail marked for horses that will go OVER Spruce Mountain Road.
Right as we were going down the hill to Spruce Mountain Road a HUGE train went by in the distance. My trail buddy's horse freaked out and we needed to go back up the hill and get farther away from the train until it passed.
We finally crossed the road and followed a really nice wide trail back to the parking lot. It started out parallel to Spruce Mountain Road then moved further east. I just really hoped another train did not come by so we could ride back to the trail-head. This was the scariest part of the trail mostly due to the fact that the horses got riled up from the train and also knew they were almost back to the parking lot. If you ride the trail clock-wise you are less likely to get lost. You could also make sure to ride this section of the trail and make sure there were no trains coming before you left the parking lot.
Again the trail was wide, soft and nice. If I was by myself I may have trotted and cantered this part. I am never worried about Sam running away, he would much rather stop and eat. We passed another small pond.
Continue right at this fork. We went straight, that was the wrong way and we had to cut over the meadow to get back on the trail. Keep right along the wider trail.
We crossed another pasture gate and headed back to the parking lot. We came upon another group of horses. This seems to be a very popular equestrian trail.
Rating
Moderately Difficult. This trail would be really easy if your horse is used to trains or if you by-passed the south-east part of the trail by taking Noe road back to the parking lot when you cross it the second time going North to South. We had 3 trains pass us during our ride. The first while we were tacking up in the parking lot and then two right before we crossed Spruce Mountain Road. If our timing was different we may not have seen trains at all. It also could have been worse if they passed while we were riding the south-east section of the trail. If you ride Greenland Open Space you would be even closer to the train track.