A few friends and I hiked North Table Mountain Park on Saturday, so I thought I’d share a little recap.
Who knows, maybe one day you’ll find yourself in Colorado looking for a little hiking adventure?! If so, call me up and I’ll join you 🙂
April is still pretty early in the hiking season. It seems like it is still winter in the mountains – they are covered in snow and full of skiers; however, it is definitely spring in the foothills! The hikes in these areas may not be as intense, but it’s a great way to get some warm up hikes in before attempting to conquer a 14-er. Which I hope to do soon.
North Table Mountain Park met our criteria of being moderately difficult, ranging 5-10 miles long, not covered in snow, dog friendly, and not too far from Denver. So, to North Table Mountain we went!
Our crew consisted of 5 people and 1 dog – just enough space to all fit in my roommate’s Ford Escape. We left Denver at around 10:00 and it was only about a 30 minute drive to get to the trailhead in Golden. There were a surprising amount of people at the start and the parking lots were full, so we had to park along highway 93. Slightly frightening, but it worked out just fine.
North and South Table Mountain offer a few different routes that vary in distance from 2.5 miles to 8ish miles. We choose the longer one, which was advertised on AllTrails.com as 7.6 miles. At the end of the hike my GPS showed 8.8 miles, but then when I checked it later the distance was recalibrated down to 8.0 miles. Still not bad overall!
This was our route:
As you can see we started the hike with a nice steep incline (going counter-clockwise around the loop), then had a gradual decline, and finished off the last few miles with some rolling hills. We took some scenic picture breaks, water breaks, and sunscreen breaks over the course of the hike. Overall it was a little over 900 feet in elevation gain. Since North Table Mountain Park is basically right in Golden, we weren’t fully enveloped in “nature”. You’ll see power lines and houses in our pictures, but there were still some great views of the mountains and a pretty little view of downtown Denver. No one was complaining.
Would you?
Judging by the amount of cars and people that we initially saw, I was expecting the trail to be pretty crowded. However, the specific trail that we took wasn’t too bad. We came across a few hikers, a few runners, and a good number of mountain bikers. At times the trail was pretty narrow, so we would have to stop and move to the side to let others pass (or vice versa). Everyone seemed to have good trail etiquette, but it’s always a good reminder to be conscious of the other people around you.
The weather was perfect at 65 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. We still needed snacks and plenty of water. Also, sunscreen. I missed a few spots and got burnt. I’m not used to the intense sun yet and my pale skin was all “wtf is happening here?!” If it was any warmer it probably would have been too hot, so I would not recommend doing this hike in the prime summer months. There is no shade. It’d be brutal! But you could do it if you like that sort of thing.
The hike wasn’t too strenuous, but it was still a good workout. I could feel it in my glutes the next day (side note: “Good for the glutes.” Is my mantra while hiking up hills. I find it to be very motivating.) By the end we were all ready to be done. I may have some “only one more mile!” about three times and prematurely got people’s hopes up, but a little extra walking didn’t hurt. We all survived.
We rewarded ourselves with beers at the Buffalo Rose in Golden for all the effort we put in that morning. Beer after hiking is pretty much the best thing, especially when you’re with such a great crew.
Overall, I enjoyed hiking the North Table Mountain Park trail. I feel I would do it again and would be completely comfortable going by myself. Maybe even to take a stab at trail running? I won’t get ahead of myself.
But if every weekend of my life going forward involves the mountains, beer, sunshine, and great people I will be a happy, happy (and grateful!) lady.
