Round trip distance: 4.7 miles
Hiking time: 3 hours
High point:  7,400 feet
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet
Best hiking time: June and early July and early fall
Maps: USGS 7.5 minute series Evergreen
Trails Illustrated #100 Boulder, Golden

Elevation profile

For more information: Denver Parks & Recreation Department, 201 West Colfax Ave, Dept. 601, Denver, CO 80202. Phone: (720) 913-0739; Mountain Parks Headquarters, (303) 697-4545; http://www.denvergov.org/Mountain_Parks/88aboutus.asp

Getting there: Take I-70 west to the Chief Hosa, Exit 253. At the bottom of the ramp turn right and continues as the road turns into Stapleton Drive and curves northwest. Follow Stapleton Drive for 1 mile and bear left at a fork that leads to two parking lots. Park in either lot, although the bottom lot is closer to the trailhead.

The Beaver Brook Trail extends for 8.65 miles through open space owned by City and County of Denver in Genesee Park and on Lookout Mountain. Constructed from 1917-1919 with the help of the Colorado Mountain Club, the trail hugs the south rim of Clear Creek Canyon.

Since the area has been protected from development for almost 100 years, Beaver Brook Trail offers a unique primitive backcountry hiking experience in the metropolitan area.

An added feature of the trail is a short Braille Nature Trail, which would be an interesting hiking experience for a non-sighted person with a seeing-eye dog.

This hike is long and strenuous if you do the entire 8.65 miles and would require a shuttle. Also the east end of the trail above Golden has an exposed talus field that can be hard to negotiate unless you and your pet are used to rocky climbs. Thus, this hike focuses on the west end of the trail. All the elevation gain is on the return.

After parking your car, go to the clearly marked trailhead for the Braille Nature Trail.  The next 0.3 mile is a gradual descent along a trail that has a sturdy vinyl coated cable strung from waist-high posts. At regularly spaced intervals, tablets written in Braille explain the surrounding ecosystem. There are also several large boards with illustrations and explanatory legends for sighted hikers and how they can duplicate the sensory experiences on which non-sighted hikers depend.

The Braille Nature Trail turns left and reverses its climb back to the trailhead near a flat small meadow where there are picnic tables and toilet facilities.

Pick up the Beaver Brook Trail where the Braille Nature Trail turns.  Go down a series of uneven slab rock steps and cross a footbridge over a stagnant seasonal creek.  The narrow trail takes of from there, descending rapidly into Bear Gulch. The bottom of the gulch is down the drop-off to your right. Occasional tree-mounted trail makers with BB on them lead you down farther into the gulch. When the grade becomes steeper, additional, stone steps again take you downward.  Your destination is a grassy pleasant place where the trail reaches Beaver Brook. This picturesque terminus is delightful in spring and early summer when it is abloom with wildflowers. This small creek flows north for less than 0.25 mile to empty into the large Clear Creek. Have lunch at Beaver Brook while your pet enjoys the water.

Return the way you came. Once you reach the Braille Nature Trail again, take the right-hand loop segment to the trailhead.

For those who wish to explore more of the Beaver Brook Trail as time and stamina permits here is a brief description of the rest of the trail.  Once the trail leaves Beaver Brook it ascends to traverse the south rim of Clear Creek Canyon. Here the going is precipitous as you look far down into Clear Creek Canyon, Clear Creek and U.S. 6. This part of the trail is for the agile, sure-footed hiker. The trail then continues east around Lookout Mountain where handhold scrambles over outcrops are necessary.

The east end trailhead is at Windy Saddle that can be reached from Lookout Mountain Road. If you decide to hike the entire length of the Beaver Brook Trail do so as a shuttle. Also, start at the Braille Nature Trail trailhead to make the steep and exposed segment near Windy Saddle a somewhat easier downhill.

BackCountrySki is a community for identifying great backcountry runs and blogging about current snow conditions.

Although Boulder is known primarily as a college town (the University of Colorado is here), there's much more to it. Sophisticated, innovative and artsy, this community of 100,000 is home to a number of high-tech companies and high-end research concerns.  Boulder also is known for its countless outdoor sports options, a delightful climate, vast open spaces, and proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Set at the foot of the Flatirons of the Rocky Mountains, 30 miles northwest of downtown Denver, Boulder was settled 1858 and named for the large rocks in the area.  The university, founded in 1877, became the economic mainstay of the community after mining collapsed around the beginning of the 20th century.

In the 1950s, Boulder emerged as a national hub for scientific and environmental research. The National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are located here, as are dozens of high-tech and aerospace companies. Alongside the ongoing high-tech boom, the university and attendant vibrant culture have attracted a diverse mix of intellectuals, individualists, and eccentrics. Like William S. Burroughs, Jr., Stephen King and Allen Ginsberg (co-founder of the country's only Buddhist University, the Naropa Institute).

Today's residents are a mix of students attending the University of Colorado employees of the many computer, biotech, and research firms; and others attracted by the casual, bohemian, environmentally aware, and otherwise hip lifestyles that prevail here.  Whatever differences exist among the residents, they are united by a common love of the outdoors: Boulder has 30,000 acres of open space within its city limits, 56 parks, and 200 miles of trails.

The Colorado Mountain Club, headquartered in  Golden, Colorado, is one of the oldest hiking  organizations in the country and the largest in Colorado.  It has a number of active chapters throughout Colorado, including:

Groups:

• Aspen 
  

• Boulder

• Colorado Wilderness Kids 
  

• Denver 
  

• El Pueblo 
  

• Fort Collins 
  

• Friends of Colorado Group
  

• Gore Range Group 
  

• Longs Peak 
  

• Pikes Peak 
  

• San Juan 
  

• Shining Mountains 
  

• Sneffels 
  

• Weld County 
  

• Western Slope 
  

80 hikes selected to delight your dog (and you) throughout Colorado-many accessible from urban areas.

This community is an interactive companion to the best-selling guide book “Best Hikes With Dogs in Colorado” (buy on Amazon). Browse the trails, plan some hikes, annotate the maps, leave your trip reports and join in the fun!

Seldom explored trails where no leashes are required and terrain is easy on the paws * Advice on keeping your dog happy, healthy, and hydrated in Colorado's High Country * What to pack: the Ten Canine Essentials and a Doggy First Aid Kit

Whether your dog is big or small, an overweight couch potato or a muscular retriever, Ania Savage has selected the best trails for every type of dog. She's been hiking with canine companions for more than twenty years and looks at the land through dog-centric eyes. These hikes will delight both you and your pet with panoramic views, soft tundra grasses, plenty of flowing water, and unexplored valleys and forests where you may have the trail to yourself. Savage puts a premium on canine safety, including tips on how to gauge the effect of high altitude and thin air on your dog.

From short day hikes to longer backpacking trips, many trails are clustered along the three highway "corridors" that penetrate the Colorado Rockies. They stretch from the Wyoming border to the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado and west to Grand Junction, and including the Foothills near Denver; many have never before been described in another guidebook.

The Pocket Guide attempts to give the latest information on accessing and climbing Colorado’s 54 peaks that rise to 14,000 feet or above in a handy, pocket-carrying format.

Mountains do not change, but access to them does. The Pocket Guide lists the most popular routes to the Fourteeners and indicates changes in trails that were made in recent years. The Pocket Guide also advises you about the routes recommended by the Fourteener Initiative. The Fourteener Initiative is a cooperative effort of federal, state and private agencies and individuals formed in 1994 to safeguard, but at the same time make accessible and safe, Colorado’s highest peaks to mountaineers and hikers.

Climbing the Fourteeners

The Fourteeners stretch from Longs Peak in the Front Range, in sight of Wyoming, to Culebra Peak, just north of New Mexico, and to the San Juan Range near the famous Four Corners area where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah meet. Climbing the Fourteeners will take the mountaineer to all parts of Colorado and introduce a variety of flora, fauna and rock.

How many Fourteeners are there has always intrigued climbers. Until the mid 1950s, climbers believed that there were 52 mountains in Colorado that were 14,000 feet high or higher. Missouri and its neighbor Huron Peak were added in the mid 1950s following new measurements. But in 1972, Stewart Peak in the San Juans was demoted to a Thirteener and Ellingwood Peak was added. The Pocket Guide gives routes to the 54 mountains that are recognized at this time as Fourteeners both by the U.S. Geological Survey and the CMC.

The organization of the Pocket Guide is straightforward. The peaks are grouped by the ranges in which they are found, listed from east to west across Colorado. Within each range, the peaks are listed from north to south. The climbing directions are for summer and early autumn trips. Winter conditions can change the entire climbing experience. Distances given are round trip distances except when noted otherwise.

The directions, however, cannot be relied upon as a substitute for good judgment and careful preparation. The guide makes no provision for the many variable conditions such as weather, physical condition of the participants and the possibility that climbers will fail to locate the described landmarks.

Climbers should use this guide with discretion and awareness of the countless hazards and challenges that must be confronted on even the “easiest” climbs. High mountains are subject to abrupt and drastic weather changes. Afternoon lightning storms are always to be expected when climbing the Fourteeners during the summer months, and some peaks do seem to have more storms than others. These peaks are so identified in the text. Because of the frequency of early afternoon storms, summer climbs should be planned so that the party is descending from the summit by noon. The threat of lightning storms diminishes in September and disappears in October and November.

In order to minimize environmental impact, the hiker is urged to remain on the trail, especially in those areas where trail revisions have been made to reduce human impact. Because of the increased popularity in climbing the Fourteeners, ascents on weekdays are preferred since they offer solitude and minimize trail and campground congestion. When camping, the camper is urged to use a gasoline stove, not a campfire, and filter, boil or chemically purify water obtained from streams.

Despite what anyone may tell you, breathing almost three miles above sea level or climbing several miles upward at a high altitude will not only take your breath away, but will tire you more quickly. Other more serious physical discomforts climbers may encounter are nausea, headache and, occasionally, heart palpitations. There is an inherent risk in climbing mountains, and each climber attempting a Fourteener should be aware of the risk. For this reason, the three climbers who have so generously share their knowledge of Colorado’s Fourteeners in the Pocket Guide maintain that there is no really “easy” mountain. Slippery cliffs, falling rock, crumbling ledges, heaving talus slopes and abrupt changes in the weather can turn a pleasant hike into a difficult climb. Thus, none of the mountains are ranked “easy,” and we do tell you if a mountain is difficult and if the climb can be dangerous.

High altitude almost always means low temperatures and strong wind, Therefore, frostbite and hypothermia are possible dangers. Climbers become exhausted or lost, or they may find themselves facing cliffs requiring technical rock climbing skills. In remote mountains or on little used trails, the consequences of climbing beyond your ability may require rescue, which can be slow in locating stranded or injured hikers.

For many, climbing is a method for challenging the limits of our body and our tolerance of danger. Mountain climbing expands our body’s abilities as it teaches us to gauge our capacity for risk. Yet, to go unprepared, carry no maps or compass, have inadequate water and eschew a pack with warm clothing and rain gear is foolhardy. On a Fourteener, a cloudless sunny day can end in a snowstorm or a whiteout. Drinking unpurified stream water can expose you to water-borne parasites.