Name: Castle Trail
Rating: 4.0

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Occasionally closed in muddy/wet conditions.

Description

From the Mt. Falcon parking lot, you'll get a minimal warm up before the long grind on the Castle Rock Trail. There is no protection from the sun on most of this trail, so avoid hot days. This trail can be very crowded with runners, hikers, mountain bikers, and even horses.

About halfway up, a hard left turn (with just a touch of tree shade) offers a brief respite before the climbing kicks in again. Then it's more grinding to the top.

This trail continues all the way down to the other parking lot on the west side of the system at Mt. Falcon road, but most use Castle Trail to connect to the other great trails in the area. The views along the top of this trail are quite good, extending from Kansas to the continental divide!

If it's crowded or you want to avoid bikes, consider using Turkey Trot instead of this trail - they reconnect two-thirds of the way up the hill.

Contacts

Land Manager: Jefferson County, CO - Open Space Dept.

Shared By:

Nick Wilder with improvements by Jim Haley

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.0 from 25 votes

#1

in Mount Falcon Park

#668

Overall

4.0 from 25 votes

5 Star		24%
4 Star		48%
3 Star		28%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#1

in Mount Falcon Park

#115

in Colorado

#668

Overall

31 Views Last Month

5,019 Since Mar 28, 2015

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		16%
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Photos

Near the Top of Castle Trail after climbing up the technical singletrack.

Jul 28, 2015 near Indian…, CO

Good picnic spot with views towards Denver

Mar 28, 2015 near Indian…, CO

The Walker, built in 1909, was destroyed by fire in 1918 from a lightning strike.

Mar 28, 2015 near Indian…, CO

Turkey Trot Trail in the distance, and Red Rock Park

Mar 28, 2015 near Morrison, CO

High peaks views from this easy stretch of Castle Trail

Mar 28, 2015 near Indian…, CO

Mar 28, 2015 near Indian…, CO

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Current Trail Conditions

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Check-Ins

Oct 10, 2024

Mike Moore

Jul 21, 2024

Jeff Mooney

Apr 5, 2024

Mike Moore

Apr 28, 2023

Marlon Solis

Mar 13, 2023

Matt Culpepper

From East TH to Two Dog Pt. (6.2/1675 total)

Aug 17, 2022

Damian Haniewicz

May 15, 2021

Matt Culpepper

To Mt. Falcon summit and back via Turkey Trot (9.1/1850) 6mi — 5h 45m

Apr 25, 2021

Taylor West

Solo hike

Jan 15, 2021

Cynthia B.

Dec 8, 2020

Neal Harkner

7.5mi — 2h 50m

Sep 4, 2020

Melissa Wilkerson

Aug 4, 2020

Scott H

Jul 27, 2020

Mike Amolsch

Had to take a week off with my strained feet again, parked lower parking lot- Made it much tougher. Did meadows, Parmalee, tower- met girls from Iowa- 14mi

Jul 18, 2020

Rachel Clough

Went to the ruins, then came back on Meadow Trail 2.9mi — 9h 47m

Jun 22, 2020

Mike Amolsch

13K steps. -nice historic trail! Saw deer, loved it! Warm day, little crowded at end- good enjoyable Colorado day 6.2mi

Jan 26, 2020

Jesse Krank

Oct 14, 2019

Tracey Ziniel

Sep 27, 2019

T M

Aug 10, 2019

Jen Giancaterino

Aug 4, 2019

Katie Osland

7.6mi

Aug 1, 2019

Cody Andrews

Jul 25, 2019

Nicole Stanek

Up Turkey Trot to Walker's Dream down Castle trail 6.3mi

Jul 21, 2019

Jesse Krank

Jul 6, 2019

Jeromey Patterson

Jun 2, 2019

Neal Harkner

Castle->Old Ute->Devil's Elbow from the east parking lot. 8.5mi — 3h 48m

May 25, 2019

Donald Counts

Trail nice and dry. Lovely views throughout. 3mi — 13h 00m

May 18, 2019

William Marcus

Mar 24, 2019

Angela Roxworthy

Feb 27, 2019

Carolyn Jungels

Feb 25, 2019

Carolyn Jungels

Jan 20, 2019

Amber B

From west trailhead, Took castle trail about 3/4 of the way, then turned back. Almost all dogs on leash, many dogs seemed aggressive. Not recommended

Oct 27, 2018

Sarah B

7.8mi

Aug 29, 2018

Mason LeGrange

Aug 5, 2018

Vanessa Bayer

Hiked to walker’s dream trail, then headed back, took the turkey trot trail on the way back. It was more shaded and less steep than the castle trail

Aug 2, 2018

Danny Wojcik

Jul 14, 2018

Andy Ney

Jun 23, 2018

Omar Albayati

Jun 16, 2018

Andrea C

May 28, 2018

Cristi P

10.2mi

Apr 28, 2018

Heath Elledge

Apr 28, 2018

Michael Rock

Apr 16, 2018

Britt Moore

Mar 30, 2018

Ashley Cordero

Mar 11, 2018

Neal Harkner

Mar 7, 2018

David Miller

Dec 25, 2017

Chrissie PENA

covered snow trail and first Christmas hike. Already saw deer.

Nov 25, 2017

Debby R

Nice view of Red Rocks but just okay hike

Nov 19, 2017

David Hamernick

0.8mi

Nov 10, 2017

Tyler Fish

Aug 8, 2017

J L

Up Castle Trail, down Turkey Trot Trail 3.1mi

Jul 8, 2017

jim jones

very hot this day 97 degrees but really enjoyed this hike 2.9mi

Jul 4, 2017

Sammy Feegs

Jun 29, 2017

Ashley Slappey

3.2mi

Jun 26, 2017

Sarah Shafer

we were just wandering around the park and found this trail. it was neat to see the ruins amd read up on a bit of Colorado history. 2mi

Jun 10, 2017

Scott Klinger

Apr 23, 2017

Lisa Reiswig

Apr 2, 2017

Jeremy Clymer

Only did a small section this, need to come back for more at some point.

Mar 21, 2017

Omar Albayati

Feb 19, 2017

Meghan Hollaback

4mi

Jan 30, 2017

Lawrence Shattuck

5.6mi

Jan 29, 2017

Neal Harkner

Castle/Tower/Meadow loop from east side parking lot. 8.1mi

Dec 11, 2016

Isaac Byard

Beautiful and quiet place for winter hikes 6mi

Aug 14, 2016

Cary Gummelt

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Castle Trail

“A long, steep, exposed climb from the parking lot leads to easier terrain up high with big views. ”

4.0

6.4

Point to Point

7,765' 2,367 m

6,030' 1,838 m

1,737' 529 m

2' 1 m

8%

20%

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Know This Trail?

Dogs Leashed

Features Views

Description

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Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#1

#668

#1

#115

#668

Photos

0 Comments

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Nearby Recommended Routes

Mount Falcon East Loop

Mount Morrison

Mount Carbon Loop

Abert's Loop

Paramount Point to Bear Creek Trail Loop

Evergreen Lake Trail

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