Golden Gate Canyon State Park - a winter workout

Golden Gate Canyon State Park is 1 of 42 Colorado State parks, and only lies 16 miles north-west of Golden, and within an hour of Denver. The park has more than 12,000 acres of land to enjoy, and a variety of mountain scenery ranging from sweeping views to green meadows, to groves of aspen. Since the park is so close to Denver, it does get a lot of foot traffic, and the campsites get booked in advance at peak season.

The park can be enjoyed in all seasons whether you are on foot, bicycle, horseback or snowshoes. The first place I recommend stopping at is the Visitors Center, the center houses a small exhibit about the park and the wildlife, has free maps and brochures, and they can issue the $7 daily park fee.

Our first visit to the park was during winter with the intention to snowshoe, but traction devices were all that was needed on the compacted snow and ice, and we virtually had the trails to ourselves. The park volunteer recommended heading for the Horseshoe Trailhead to get a first taste of the park, this Trailhead is the beginning of the Horseshoe trail, a moderate 1.8 mile steady climb up to Frazer Meadow.

Start of Horseshoe Trail

California Zephyr - rails to snowy trails

Our "almost annual" pilgrimage to Glenwood Springs from Denver on Amtrak #5 started with some unexpected excitement (or inconvenience depending on how you look at it). On the eve of our outbound journey, the snow gods decided to blanket Colorado with a dose of the white stuff and drop the thermometer into the single digits. This fresh snow made navigating the roads at 5.30am on a Saturday morning interesting, and finding the parking garage entrance to the NEW Denver commuter train Westminster station an additional challenge in the dark.
We had to race for the train with luggage laden arms, frozen fingers, and along icy paths, with seconds to spare; most of the drama here was trying to actually figure out how to get from aforesaid parking garage to the platform (not very obvious in the dark).

Snowy Downtown Denver