Filed Under: Cycling
This is an old railroad bed, so the grades are moderate. The surface is not technical, but it is rough and rocky. The stretch north of Gold Hill Road is less traveled because the connection at the north end at Sawmill Road requires a short, steep scree scramble with your bike on your shoulder where the new road fill covers the old railroad bed. The largest elevation drop is from either Gold Hill Road or Glacier Lake/County Road 120 to the junction of Sunset/Fourmile Canyon Drive.
The Switzerland Trail can be made into a loop with a return by the Gold Hill Road and Peak-to-Peak Highway. You can also make a loop back to Boulder by riding through the town of Gold Hill and travel east on the main road through town. After a small uphill leaving town, this will take you on a 7 mile downhill on dirt road and changing to paved road after approximately 2 miles. This will dump you out on Mapleton Hill near Mt. Sanitas trailhead. Another mile and you are back in downtown Boulder.can be accessed from the Peak-to-Peak Highway (CO 72) at the southwest end, Fourmile Canyon at the low point from the east, Gold Hill Road or Sawmill Road near Lefthand Canyon on the northeast.
Two other alternatives include starting on the trailhead on Sugarloaf or riding the Boulder Creek bike path from town and then riding up Fourmile Canyon to the end. The Switzerland Trail crosses here and continues up to Gold Hill (right) or Sugarloaf (left).
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