Red Rocks Trail
Where the City Meets the Mountains
The west side of urban Denver runs smack into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. In a strip between the pine forest and the grass, you can explore an area of hogback ridges, huge red sandstone rock formations, and semiarid shrublands. Here, Canyon Wrens and Yellow-breasted Chats sing, scrub-jays and magpies complain, chipmunks chatter, and Peregrine and Prairie Falcons build nests in the cliffs. Sometimes, herds of elk roam into view. Thanks to a spectacular system of parks established with nearly a century of foresight, huge tracts of beautiful and quality habitat have been preserved for posterity, only minutes from the city.
Sites on this Trail
- Crown Hill Park and Crown Hill Cemetery
- Wheat Ridge Greenbelt
- Van Bibber Park
- Welchester Tree Grant Park
- Golden
- Arvada Blunn Reservoir
- White Ranch Park
- Mt. Galbraith Open Space
- Lookout Mountain Nature Center and Preserve
- Apex Park
- Genessee Park
- Matthews/Winters Park and Dinosaur Ridge Hawk Watch
- Red Rocks Park
- Bear Creek Lake Park
- Lair O’the Bear Park
- O’Fallon Mountain Park
- Evergreen Area
- South Valley Park
- Turkey Creek Park
- Conifer Area
- Reynolds Open Space Park
- Staunton State Park