Golden is one of my favorite places in Colorado both for a hike and for the downtown – it’s just so cute! Belcher Trail in White Ranch Park was sneaky beautiful. You start off winding through the foothills and admiring some incredible houses just off the trail, then as you start to climb you’re very quickly rewarded with incredible views of the city of Golden, the foothills, reservoirs and eventually you get a glimpse of the Mile High City.
Full disclosure – I got lost on this trail and didn’t complete the original path we’d set out for. We had planned on 4.6 miles round trip with 938 ft of elevation gain for a loop trail. Instead of turning off at Longhorn Trail (it’s really well marked! We just didn’t look ahead to know which route to take) we kept going up Belcher and ended up doing 5 miles and 1,110 ft of elevation gain once we realized we missed a turn, so we made it an out and back trail.
Like most parks in Colorado, you can grab a map at the start of the trail and you should be good to go! The trail system was really well marked and well maintained with lots of friendly people (and dogs!) along the way.
Regardless, this trail system is beautiful, close to Denver and has a ton of options for making the hike you want out of it! Only feel like a mile? No problem. Want more of a challenge? Lots of trails for you to make it happen.
