Matthews/Winters Park (plus Dakota Ridge)
From Hiking
| Matthews/Winters Park (plus Dakota Ridge) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Location: | Morrison | |
| Maintained By: | Jefferson County Open Space | |
| Starting Elevation: | 6300' | |
| Elevation Gain: | 500' | |
| Length: | 6.5 miles | |
| Difficulty: | Easy to moderate | |
| Last Hiked: | 8/10/08 | |
[edit] Finding the Trail Head
From Golden, take Heritage Road, turn right on US-40, continue on CO-26 (US-40 turns to follow I-70), and turn right into Matthews/Winters Park just past the I-70 underpass.
[edit] Description
The Loop goes down through the red rock formations and back on top of the Dakota Ridge (the hogback) or vise versa.
[edit] Experience
Although the nominal elevation gain is small, there is a lot of up and down on top of the hogback that makes you wonder if you're in as good a shape as you thought. Because of the relatively low elevation, the vegetation is mostly chaparral and the hiking can be very hot in the summer. The eagle view lookout at the highest point of the Dakota Ridge provides an interesting sidelight.
Doing Dakota Ridge first seems a little easier, though it's easy to get lost connecting back to the Matthews/Winters trail. Also, the hike up to the top of the red rocks is pretty steep.
