Name: Eldorado Canyon Trail
Rating: 3.9

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There is an $10.00 vehicle fee to enter the park.

Description

This trail starts at Eldorado Canyon State Park. Drive to the visitor's center and hike north from there.

The trail climbs steadily through several switchbacks. After an hour or so it will flatten out and then descend to South Boulder Creek. From there, you can join the Walker Ranch trail. Watch out for bikes at the trail junction.

Eldorado Canyon is very popular with hikers and rock climbers. It will be crowded on weekends. Get there early to avoid the crowds.

Contacts

Land Manager: City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks

Shared By:

Ben Carver with improvements by Catherine O.

Full Details

Trail Ratings

3.9 from 50 votes

#2

in Eldorado Canyon State Park

#84

Overall

3.9 from 50 votes

5 Star		20%
4 Star		56%
3 Star		16%
2 Star		8%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#2

in Eldorado Canyon State…

#24

in Colorado

#84

Overall

27 Views Last Month

8,788 Since Apr 13, 2015

		0%
		2%
		65%
		8%
		24%
		0%

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Photos

Oct 31, 2016 near Coal Creek, CO

Looking southeast towards Denver. from the Eldorado Canyon Trail Denver skyline visible through the haze in the "V" of the mountains.

Apr 13, 2015 near Coal Creek, CO

Jan 6, 2024 near Boulder, CO

Jan 6, 2024 near Boulder, CO

Jan 6, 2024 near Coal Creek, CO

Apr 13, 2015 near Coal Creek, CO

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Unknown

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Check-Ins

Sep 27, 2023

Cory K

just across the bridge to whales tail and behind 1mi

Aug 22, 2023

Cory K

ticking bc the climbers trail to wind tower and whales tail is not listed. scrambled up behind whales tale and traversed the backside jugs

Jul 24, 2022

Michael X

6.8mi — 2h 39m

Jul 16, 2022

Gina G

May 14, 2022

Sam W

Apr 2, 2022

Dan Shanley

Difficult. Small "waterfalls". Knees hurt on way back. Luckily no mountain lions. 6.2mi — 4h 10m

Dec 17, 2021

Jody Rae

Jun 6, 2021

Matt Culpepper

Great trail from the Creek to the Creek and back (6.5/1100/600) 6.5mi

Jun 5, 2021

Floyd Hartley

Feb 28, 2021

Rachel Solorio

Patches of snow and ice - microspikes solve that issue though 5mi

Jan 2, 2021

Matt Makowski

Pretty arduous for a moderate trail. But was mostly ice-free.

Dec 30, 2020

Jonah Petoskey

7.1mi — 2h 59m

Nov 8, 2020

Michael Schieferecke

very steep the first mile and the last .8. — 3h 37m

Jul 4, 2020

Azeb Gugsa

May 16, 2020

Maren Miller

May 8, 2020

Erin Andersen

6.1mi — 3h 28m

Apr 4, 2020

Bryan Connally

Mar 22, 2020

Mike Sanders

Feb 1, 2020

Abel Valdes

3mi

Dec 30, 2019

Robert Carmody

Trail is mostly snow-covered, but the views are beautiful as always! 6.8mi

Aug 10, 2019

Kathryn C

Jul 21, 2019

D J

Jul 13, 2019

Robert Carmody

4mi

Jul 7, 2019

Ari R.

6.5mi

Jul 6, 2019

Elijah Erickson

5.5mi

Jun 19, 2019

Hannah R

3.1mi — 4h 00m

Jun 15, 2019

Daylene York

7mi

May 25, 2019

Tommy F

May 15, 2019

JP Jones

That wasn't as easy as advertised; 75% of the round-trip is steep inclines, only about a mile or two is fairly level and pleasant to traverse. 7mi — 3h 58m

May 12, 2019

Shaleen Marie

3.1mi — 2h 27m

Apr 16, 2019

Nathan Harrison

Apr 14, 2019

Sarah Butterworth

3.1mi

Apr 5, 2019

Amy Domino

Super fun hike. Be sure to go all the way to the creek at the bottom! It is worth it.

Jan 20, 2019

Kim Chrislip

With Jer & Sam. Snowy and slushy in shady sections. 5.1mi

Dec 30, 2018

Helene Gaglioti

Dec 16, 2018

Adrianna Carey

6.2mi

Nov 20, 2018

Mike Amolsch

Nov 20, 2018

Joe Martinez

Mixed Snow mud slush and ice Awesome river 8mi round trip 8.2mi

Nov 3, 2018

Ryan Wadge

Sep 20, 2018

Marc D

Jul 29, 2018

Cody Alexa

Jul 29, 2018

JT Alexa

Jul 29, 2018

Randy Cantu

Jul 8, 2018

Joel Brewer

Jul 4, 2018

Thomas Brus

Jun 17, 2018

Gillian LaMar

Jun 16, 2018

Ari R.

Jun 10, 2018

Sarah Pierce Martin

Mileage is out-and-back on the Eldorado Canyon Trail from Nature Center to the descent to the Walker Ranch trailhead, 6.5mi — 4h 00m

Jun 3, 2018

Helene Gaglioti

May 20, 2018

slimbird

5mi

Apr 27, 2018

Isaac Metroka

1.7mi

Apr 15, 2018

Malary Jones

5.5mi

Apr 14, 2018

Joshua O’Connor

Mar 31, 2018

Tommy Knight

great view ... too much snow

Mar 31, 2018

Katie Edwards

Mar 31, 2018

Andrew Lau

2mi

Mar 24, 2018

Erin Greene

6.2mi

Feb 3, 2018

Andrea A

Mostly dry. Little mud or ice here and there.

Jan 28, 2018

Noman Waheed

Dec 29, 2017

Juno Cha

Dec 5, 2017

Kari Armstrong

Nov 4, 2017

Thomas Riegelman

A bright, crisp day. A great Saturday morning hike. 6.2mi

Sep 23, 2017

Bryan Michel

Jul 13, 2017

Patrick Csongei

hiked Eldorado Canyon to the creek and then back. Excellent hike! 7mi

Jul 13, 2017

Katie B

First full hike as Denver residents! 7mi

Jul 9, 2017

Luke Gloystein

Jun 13, 2017

Lauren Weber

May 20, 2017

Katherine F

May 14, 2017

Debbie Ridder

Apr 28, 2017

Marie Logue

Apr 13, 2017

Sarah Lewis

6mi

Mar 15, 2017

Tyler Kanaval

Nov 27, 2016

Michael Arestad

6mi

Nov 16, 2016

Bryce Eitzmann

Oct 19, 2016

Brandy Coffey

Aug 28, 2016

Leilani Rose

Aug 14, 2016

BT jackson

Not a hard hike with pretty much the same view throughout. Would be good for trail running. Try the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail for more variety. 3.1mi

May 30, 2016

Jon D

Feb 17, 2016

Sam Waters

Beautiful summer day in February. No real destination just exercise 6mi

Feb 13, 2016

Sam Waters

stop at the lookout that faces back onto denver 6.2mi

May 26, 2015

ZTD D0

3.1mi

May 15, 2015

Gabby Carrier

Apr 12, 2015

Ben Carver

6.8mi — 2h 38m

Aug 2, 2014

Leslie Nicole

not completed

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Eldorado Canyon Trail

“A scenic and fairly easy climb ending at South Boulder Creek and Walker Ranch. ”

3.1

5.0

Point to Point

7,087' 2,160 m

6,128' 1,868 m

1,057' 322 m

735' 224 m

11%

44%

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Know This Trail?

Dogs Leashed

Features River/Creek · Views

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#2

#84

#2

#24

#84

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Nearby Recommended Routes

South Mesa Loop

Shanahan Ridge

Marshall Mesa to Spring Brook Loop

Royal Arch Out and Back

Mount Sanitas via Sunshine Lion's Lair Loop

Mount Sanitas Loop

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