Green To Falcon 4-Park Run

I'd been thinking about doing this run for a while. It's part of a larger project to run from Lakewood on the plains up to Indian Hills or Evergreen in the foothills, by linking together public parks and open spaces. Based on how long it took me for less than half of this goal, it may take some more practice.

The path of my run started a bit east of Green Mountain (Lakewood), then linked Matthews/Winters, Red Rocks and Mount Falcon, with a bit of street running in between:


Total time was 4:52, distance was 20.22 miles, and elevation gain/loss was 4,115 feet.

Sunday morning I woke to howling wind and a right knee that seemed a bit stiff, which is unusual. I had run Bergen Peak the day before, and maybe I didn't stretch out enough on prior days, and irritated it? I'm wary of injury and don't run if I need the rest, so I drank my Sumatra and hung out at home. By midday, however, the wind had died down and my knee was normal. I decided to head out.

My starting point was on-the-street parking in west Lakewood next to a Sixth Avenue West greenbelt, a finger of public land that reaches down from Green Mountain into suburban neighborhoods.

I walked down the gravel road off the street, and then took the dirt trail through the open space towards Green Mountain, which is clearly visible to the southwest. If you keep running uphill through fields, eventually you will end up in the park itself. I took a gravel road west past a water tank, and then proceeded up the nearest ravine and past the crazy yellow asparagus:


Mid-way up the ravine there is a colorful grove of trees. I could hear a trickle of water running through this ravine. There's only a few hundred feet of grassy hill above, so it must be fed by a spring.


This is almost to the top of Green Mountain, looking back east towards Denver. This particular social trail ends very near the summit.


At the top I took a right on the Jeep road, followed it down the west side of the mountain, and then took a right onto the pedestrian bridge over 470 and down to the west parking lot. Right across Rooney Road is the beginning of the Zorro trail of Matthews/Winters Park. This photo is from the top of Zorro, looking back towards Green Mountain. The Jeep road is right in the middle:


At this point you are now on Dakota Ridge, which is a thin, rolling spine of rock, pine trees and scrub. It's interesting terrain, with sand, rock and dirt trails requiring some fancy footwork at times. There are also cliffs on the right. My path will take me down the valley and across the road:


The gloomy cloud hanging overhead was one of those wind-sculpted cold-weather clouds that often do not produce rain even though they look like the underside of a thunderstorm. It just sat there looking ominous. I think during my several hours of running it only moved a few miles.

The Dakota Ridge trail "ends" at Highway 26/93, visible on the right above. You then cross the road and hang a left down the road to Red Rocks for about 200 yards before picking up the trail again on the right side of the road. The next junction is a "T" at the Red Rocks trail, where I took a left. Below is the view from the Red Rocks trail:


My next stop was the Trading Post at Red Rocks, which has its own trail loop that goes nearly to the south edge of the park at Highway 74. I followed various dirt trails and the signs, running along the road for a brief stretch.

The Trading Post has a gift shop, coffee shop, and restrooms in the basement with sinks if you need to fill up on water, which I did. In the back there is a lawn with great views of the rocks. I had run far enough west to get out from under the cloud, so I was tempted to grab a cup of coffee and relax on the balcony in the warm sun!


The view to the left from the lawn:


The trail I took starts at the parking lot just to the left of the Trading Post. Since it's a loop, you can also leave from the other side. This is a walking stick cactus along the trail:


This stretch of trail was an absolute pleasure to run, with cottonwoods and other colorful trees and bushes, and was uncharacteristically devoid of visitors. It reminded me a bit of western Colorado and Utah because of the desert feel and the red sandstone.


The Trading Post trail crosses a road on the south end of the park, and I took a left on this road and ran down to Highway 74. At this point the route involves a bit of road and street running, probably the least pleasant section of the outing. I ran left on the shoulder of 74 to the stop light, and then took a right on Highway 8 for a couple of blocks. I skipped the first two streets, went over the bridge, and took a right on Red Rocks Vista (Canyon Vista works too), which I followed to a dead end adjacent to city of Morrison property marked by a "hiker only" sign. This land lies adjacent to the county open space and there are multiple trails across it. Here is a tiny city of Morrison reservoir along the way:


I found out too late that I had taken a trail right up to the back of a "Closed for Restoration" sign on the county side. Oops. To avoid this, pick a route on the left of the reservoir leading to the Mount Falcon parking lot, which has no such signs.

I took the hiker-only Turkey Trot trail up towards Mount Falcon. This shot is looking back towards Green Mountain, which is on the right. It sure looks like western desert:


I ran up to one of the high points before the trail heads west down the Clear Creek canyon, then turned around. This is part of the trail through Red Rocks again:


Back at the foot of Green Mountain, I was looking at running that mile-plus Jeep road again, and I was tired. It's pretty terrain though, with sculpted hills of grass and small trees.


Because of the "X" shape of the visual lines in this next photo, I remember thinking I'd call this "X Marks the Pain". I had just run out of water by this point, and I was thirsty and tired. I walked the last half mile up this hill.


This is looking north towards Boulder and the dark but harmless clouds:


At the top of the hill, I tried running quickly to the top of another 100-foot rise and I may have got a little lesson in ATP/CP and glycogen depletion. I was reading this article recently and it seems your body stores enough ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) and CP (Creatine Phosphate) to supply energy for about 10 seconds of strong exertion. After that, your body has to produce more, or rely on other energy sources such as glycogen. Well, apparently I had very little of that left and burned through it, because at the top of the hill I felt woozy (too little glycogen for the brain) and borderline nauseous as I caught my breath. For about 5 seconds, I felt like I had the flu, then just as quickly it subsided. Wow.

I think it was the same situation I was in on Pawnee Pass this summer at mile 21: my body simply could not produce enough energy to keep me feeling good without constantly stopping to recover. At that time, I ate a snack, and that probably allowed me to continue.

The last photo is the final bit of singletrack, which was about 1.5 miles from my car and a bottle of Gatorade G2. I ended up drinking a half-gallon of fluids afterwards. Next time I'll have to make sure I make the 4 PM closing time for the faucet at Red Rocks, because there's no water after that.


In spite of being tired and the round rocks I kept tripping on, this singletrack was really nice ending to the run. For a bare, brown hill, Green Mountain is a surprisingly interesting oasis right next to civilization, especially if you stick to these lesser-known neighborhood trails and ravines.

Notes for next time: more food, and watch the water supply!

UPDATE: Here's the GPS track, to show the exact route.