Type: Road/Trail, Point-to-point
Difficulty: 6 / 10
Altitude: 5,279 ft
Elev. Gain/Loss: 3,985 ft / 3,919 ft
Dog Friendly: No
Jog-Stroller Friendly: No
Filed Under: Running
If you are training for an ultra or just looking for a really long run, this is a great little trail (with minimal road) run that covers Boulder from north to south to east, giving you a taste of the many great trails in the Boulder area.
This run requires a bit of routefinding as linking some of the trails is not completely obvious. I would recommend purchasing a Boulder Trails and Open Space map or downloading one off their website before attempting this. There is nothing more frustrating that getting offcourse and messing up your long run.
So here it goes (I will stick to just general descriptions of trail turnoffs and junctions):
- Start at the Boulder Resevoir entrance, run around the lake counter-clockwise.
- At the Eagle Trailhead, run the Eagle Trail to the Foot hills Trailhead
- Take the Foothills Trail south around Wonderland Lake
- Cross Linden Drive (continuing south) to a faint unmarked trail behind the very large houses
- At the Dakota Ridge Trail run up the steep hill to the top of the Sanitas Valley
- Run down the Sanitas Valley Trail and over Red Rocks Trail to Eben G. Fine Park.
- At Eben G. Fine Park (continue south) across Arapahoe Rd. and up an old gravel road to the ViewPoint Trail
- Run up the ViewPoint Trail to the Panorama Point on Flagstaff Road
- Continue on the trail crossing the road, take a left at first fork and end up just below Gregory Canyon Trailhead parking lot.
- Take the easiest trail to Chautagua Park then on to the Mesa Trail
- Run the Mesa Trail south all the way to Eldorado Springs Road
- Cross the road and take the Dowdy Draw Trail all the way to Hwy. 93 Flatirons Vista Trailhead.
- Turn back north and run along Hwy. 93 for a few hundred yards to Hwy 128 junction.
- Catch the Greenbelt Plateau Trail here and run (north) to the junction of the Community Ditch Trail
- Take the Community Ditch Trail (the long way) all the way down to the Marshall Mesa Trailhead.
- Run approximately 1 mile (west) on Marshall Road to Cherryvale. Take a right on Cherryvale then an immediate left on Marshall Road.
- Run on Marshall Road (the only considerably long section which is on the road) for about 1.75 miles to the South Boulder Creek Trailhead
- Turn east and run the South Boulder Creek Trail for about 3.5 miles until you get to the Bobolink Trailhead. This last section is not dog friendly.
You are now done. Go have a beer or something!
For this run you will need two cars. One car will be parked at the Bobolink Trailhead off Baseline Rd. and the other at Boulder Resevoir for the run start.
There are several ways to get to Boulder Reservoir. One way from Boulder is to take Foothills Parkway (Hwy 119) to Jay Road. Take a left (northwest) on Jay Road. Almost immediately take a right of 51st Street just past a Fire Station. Dive north on 51st Street until you get to the entrance of Boulder Reservoir. Park outside the gate in the ample parking outside the park - unless you really want to pay to park your car.
The end is located at the Bobolink Trailhead. One of the quickest ways to get there is to take Baseline Road east of Foothills Parkway (Hwy. 157) for approximately 1 mile. The Bobolink Trailhead is on your right just before the T-intersection of Baseline Road and Cherryvale Road.
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