St. Vrain Greenway
Location 10552 E County Line Rd, Longmont, CO 80501
When I mapped this address with my phone my directions would have taken me North of the actual trailhead. Please also note that there are more than one St. Vrain Greenway trailhead in Longmont. You need to park your trailer at the trailhead on E. County Line Road. |
Website |
PDF Map
Trail Map
According to the City of Longmont, horses are allowed on the trail East of Weld County Road 1. Dogs are not allowed east of County Road 1. We rode from 10 to 11 for a total of 4 miles round-trip.
I think the google maps satellite map is a lot more helpful.
Park Fees
Free!
Trailer Parking
Pulling into the parking lot from the south we turned right to follow the one-way traffic sign. There was a nice sign showing where horse trailers should park. Turning the corner it was hard to get into the first slot so we parked in the middle slot. If I needed to fit more trailers I would pull into the parking lot and go left so that you could have a bigger turning radius to fit into the first inside slot. I met Maureen here and we had plenty of room for two trailers. If you had a large group that knew each other you could probably fit 5-6 trailers.
BathroomsNo bathrooms at the St. Vrain Greenway trail-head. We did see restrooms at the Sandstone Ranch parking lot which is 2 miles away.
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WaterNo water.
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Mounting
There were plenty of larger rocks to use to mount. Sam and I used the picnic table.
Footing
Most of the trail was a cement path with gravel or grass on either side. Sam was barefoot in back and seemed comfortable.
Horse Hazards
Lots of bikes! Maureen and I rode on a Saturday and it was a really nice day. You may be able to avoid some bike traffic if you go during the week. There are a few small then two very long bridges to cross. There are some standard stationary objects like electric boxes, trash cans, trail signs that could be scary to some horses. You do pass by a creek and a pond and there could be ducks or birds in the marsh.
Chosen Trail
We walked along the St. Vrain Greenway trail to Sandstone Ranch and back for a total of 4 miles that took us roughly 1.5 hrs. We did not make the full loop at Sandstone Ranch but walked up to the overlook then back down to look at the historic barn and house.
Trail Experience
The trail starts out from the south end of the parking lot. The trail is a cement path with gravel on one side for equestrians. We did pass a bench and a sign with a horse on it marking that horses were allowed to use the trail.
It started out really nice and flat with pretty views. With two horses we started walking out on either side of the trail. Lots of bikers rode up between us without warning. Our horses were totally ok with bikers riding by us or between us. The footing became a little uneven on the right side of the trail and we ended up either walking nose-to tail on the gravel or walking on the cement trail side-by-side.
We passed a trash can., then came up to a bridge over some culverts. Our horses din't even blink.
It was nice and flat with some curves and pretty views.
We continued on until we came upon a very big and long bridge. Bikers were going past us on the right the whole time.
We came up to two very big and long bridges! Our horses hesitated and we dismounted to help them trust us and give them courage to cross the bridge. On the way home they crossed them without a problem.
We reached Sandstone Ranch after crossing the bridge. The cliffs in the background were really pretty. There is a loop that goes up to an overlook and the parking lot at Sandstone Ranch. There are bathrooms at this parking lot. We went right to go to the overlook.
We took the right fork first to go to the Sandstone Ranch Parking Lot. To the left of the restrooms the trail does continue to form a full loop. We turned around to go to the overlook.
We took the right fork to go to the overlook. We did not go far into the overlook due to the funny looking fence and cement benches. We could see the mountains.
We retraced our steps back to the bridge then took the left fork to walk up to the home with the barn on the left.
Headed west to get back to the trail-head the views were a lot prettier.
Rating
Moderately Difficult. I loved this trail! I tend to forget that a lot of horses are afraid of bikers or will refuse to go over bridges. Our horses were absolute rock-stars! Isis and Sam did NOT care about the bikers. Isis walked over the bridge willingly the first time Maureen rode this trail. We did dismount for the bridge on the way out but they had no issues on the way home. Our horses are also really good at trusting us and when we dismount and lead them they follow without question.