Lubahn Trail

Distance: 2.5 miles round trip (official trail), 3.0 to 3.5 miles round trip with extension depending upon your route
Elevation: 5,676 to 6,319 ft
Elevation Gain: 400 ft (official trail), 643 ft (to Castle Rock)

Fellow hikers atop Castle Rock looking towards Denver, which can be seen in the distance

No one ever hikes the Lubahn Trail by itself. Instead they use it as the primary way to get part way up South Table Mountain in Golden and then use one of the many unofficial trails to the top of Castle Rock (formally known as Table Rock). According to the city, this additional excursion is illegal because it traverses private property. Tell that to the 30 or so people on the trail the day I did it.

View of Castle Rock from the street below

Every time I visit Golden I have wondered what the view would be like from a top Castle Rock, an obvious rocky outcropping on the top of South Table Mountain. There is a lot of history behind that hunk of rock as well.

Starting out to the right

Heading up

The last pitch to the top. The dirt was very loose here.

In 1906, the Castle Rock Resort opened on top of South Table Mountain. Because the locals vehemently opposed a liquor license, it started out as a café. Tourists rode donkeys up the cliff face to sip on cappuccinos.

Past the outcroppings, the trail flattens and spreads out in all directions

By 1913, a railway had replaced the donkeys and for 25 cents a tourist could ride to the top and gamble at a casino.

Approaching Castle Rock

In the early 20’s, it became a segregated dance hall and illicit drinking establishment but business was not good and soon the KKK took over the area for their meetings. In the largest event over 1,000 Klansmen frolicked atop the mountain and a large cross burned on top of Castle Rock. Who knew sleepy Golden had such a torrid past! When the structure at the top finally burned down in 1927, few wept.

Closer now

Old stairs

Today, the journey to the top of South Table Mountain is a pleasant if brief workout. The day I climbed it, I was in quite a rush. I had just finished a Sierra Club meeting and wanted to get a jaunt in before racing home to get the dogs and take them to the dog park for their daily regiment.

View looking northeast. Coors Brewery is down in that valley. Note that Golden does not look like the pristine mountain scenery Coors uses in its advertising.

The trail is typical of Front Range trails. It was dusty, rocky, and poorly maintained in places. The Lubahn portion of the trail is a loop and I started off of Belvedere Street and headed to the right.

View to the north and parts of Golden

As the trail climbs, the views of Golden become more expansive. At the southern extent of the loop, the trail begins to switchback and heads relentlessly up to two rocky outcroppings. The official Lubahn Trail heads back to the left here but the unofficial trail heads straight up. There are no signposts, or obvious distinctions to differentiate the two. For a while Castle Rock itself disappears behind the side of the mountain. The last pitch up between the outcroppings is straight up and filled with loose dirt.

Looking down on the Lubahn Trail. I descended via this route.

Once on the top, the hiker is presented with a series of intersecting trails that head off in all directions. It is easy to find you way, however, just find the nearest trail that heads off to the left. This portion of the trail is on the wide top of South Table Mountain. It is filled with grasses and occasional small shrubs.

Looking back up at Castle Rock from the descent

There is an obvious train of folks heading to Castle Rock, which has a series of short concrete steps leading to the top. These are the remnants of the old dance hall.

Heading down and looking to the south

On the top, Castle Rock just appears to be a large rocky ledge. The views of Golden are very nice and you can look down onto Coors Brewery as well. Some leftover yokels from days gone by have graffitied the place here and there, detracting from the natural ambiance.

I hiked this trail in late March when the weather was warm and the promise of Spring was in the air.

Because I was in a rush, I headed back down and met my friends who were just arriving. They had taken the left route up the Lubahn Trail and taken the most direct social trail to the top. This would be the trail that I would take down. It was precipitous in spots and not suitable for folks with knee problems. At the bottom of this section of the Lubahn there are few interpretive signs that discuss the geology of Golden’s mesas.

Walk along Clear Creek in Golden

This morning it is -10 degrees out, very unusual, but over the Thanksgiving weekend it was much nicer and while the sudden snow prevented us from climbing Mt. Galbraith, we enjoyed a back up outing walking along Clear Creek in Golden.

Golden is home to Coors Brewery, but don’t be fooled by Coors’ advertising. Those jagged mountain peaks you see in the ads are actually Mt. Wilson (14,246 ft), which is located on the other side of the state. Golden is a Front Range town. Golden has a unique flat top mesa, which you can hike via the LuBahn Trail, and it tries to cultivate an old west ambiance. It only partially succeeds. Still, it has some decent restaurants and a nice bike path.

On this snowy day, we walked a couple of miles along the Clear Creek Bike Path. It passes numerous bronze sculptures as well as the Clear Creek History Park. This eclectic group of buildings was gathered from all over the area and compiled into a living history museum right along the path. The old building made for a nice winter backdrop.

Heading west, the trail ends at a spectacular new bridge. While we did cross the bridge, the trail peters out shortly thereafter.

We have ridden this trail towards the east for many miles. It parallels Hwy 58 for most of the way.

Historic Park	Wagon Wheel
Looking west	Reeds
Musical Sculpture	Bear sculpture

Fish sculpture
So Denverites...how many of you have never been to Golden? It is an easy day trip. You can check out the American Mountaineering Museum and lunch at the Table Mountain Inn. If after viewing photos of death defying escapes at dizzying heights plus a few margaritas, you can take a tour of Coors Brewery itself.

White Ranch Snowshoe

White Ranch is an open space park within the Jefferson County open space system and lies near Golden. It is a convenient snowshoe when Summit County is wracked by traffic or high winds. The park can be windswept itself, which tends to make the snowshoeing spotty depending on the trail. We went there over New Years when -32 degree wind chills wracked the high country. The winds were still unpleasant at White Ranch but presumably not as bad as it would have been higher up. We both wore facemasks after having our lips practically froze within the first 5 minutes. The park is a warren of trails that are not always identifiable when covered in snow.

We started from the farther parking lot and headed up to the bathrooms, which were open and then continued on the Longhorn trail for a total of about a half a mile to the junction of the Maverick Trail. This trail skirts the side of a hill for 0.9 miles and provides excellent views of Golden and Table Mountain. We were expecting to intersect with the Belcher Hill trail but after winding back towards the south we decided to bushwhack across the open meadow towards the parking lot. This took us right by a large farmstead that also serves as a ranger cabin. Dog owners beware here. The ranger has full view of the meadow and likes to sit and wait for owners who take advantage of the winter to let their dogs off leash.

This route was actually very short and covers only a small fraction of the trails in the park. We cut our trip short because of the winds and the lack of trail definition but the park has potential for bushwhacking on a nicer day.