South Valley Park

Excellent scenery--boring singletrack. This area's greatest value lies in it being an option for adding a few miles after riding Deer Creek Canyon.

This trail is excellent for someone that lives close to it and wants to explore that area it worth it. You defanitly need to connect it with Deer Creek Canyons trail network and just explore that whole are. South Valley its self is beautiful but very short, some trails are only for hikers also. Elk Meadows to Rattlesnake is the way to connect Deer Creek Canyon and South Valley. Its short but is flowy with great views.

If this is the closest riding to your house, then it's not a bad deal. But it's definitely NOT a destination ride.
In about an hour, I rode all the trails, and a few of the segments both ways.
I thought the Lyons Back/Pass connector trail was a good short climb, the Columbine was somewhat interesting, and the Grazing Elk Loop had some pretty nice flow. Other than that I thought the best fun was catching some airs on the Coyote song water-bars...
I should also give credit to the Rattlesnake Gulch trail; short but really nicely constructed. Definitely the best way to get over to the Deer Creek trails, and really fun both ways. Too bad there aren't more like it...

If this is the closest riding to your house, then it's not a bad deal. But it's definitely NOT a destination ride.
In about an hour, I rode all the trails, and a few of the segments both ways.
I thought the Lyons Back/Pass connector trail was a good short climb, the Columbine was somewhat interesting, and the Grazing Elk Loop had some pretty nice flow. Other than that I thought the best fun was catching some airs on the Coyote song water-bars...
I should also give credit to the Rattlesnake Gulch trail; short but really nicely constructed. Definitely the best way to get over to the Deer Creek trails, and really fun both ways. Too bad there aren't more like it...

Even as a beginner I would say this trail is very easy with the exception of all the loose sand on the trail, which can make for a few challenging climbs, albeit very short climbs. Nice views and there are other trails it connects too, I give this trail a 3 based mostly on the scenery.

This trail is really easy. Gets sandy in a few areas and has some fast sections. Overall enjoyable. Oh, just don't ride in the middle of summer it gets really hot with the heat from the grass.

This trail is one of several on my way home from work, and quite frankly, my last choice. The scenery is cool if you want to show someone some interesting rock formations, but as far as the ride goes, repeating it is kinda boring. Cathy Johnson can be a fast downhill, but it's not technical. This is a great trail if you want to introduce your kids to mountain biking, or need a 30-45 minute workout after work.

Overall, nice trail. This one has some awesome views of the red rocks in the area and is not that hard or long. Make sure to start at the south parking lot though if you want to start your ride uphill.

* Review edited 6/28/2011

Great course to ride if your shy on time. One flaw for the trail is that most parts of the trail are like sand pits. Its a awsome ride back to the car if you park past Locheed Martin and take the cement path back. You get some nice speed

Coyote Song is 10' wide hard pack without a single rock. Going down it, downhillers with monster body armour could probably get about 30 feet of air on multiple occassions (not me). Cathy Johnson "trail" is a dirt road. Columbine Trail is singletrack, but very short. Elk Meadow is a super-skinny, singletrack sock washer through flat prairie. Got a bit of exercise, but kind altogether kind of a snooze.* Review edited 7/5/2011

Easy park to ride. Trails are exposed and get hot in the summer. The best single track is the Columbine Trail on the Ken-Caryl side - one ride option from the South parking lot (at Deer Creek Canyon Road) is Coyote Song all the way to (gasp) paved path (go right) to Cathy Johnson Trail (K-C side) to Columbine Trail (good single track) to Pass/Lyons Back and then back down Coyote Song.

Grazing Elk Trail really gets overgrown in the summer and isn't much fun at that time IMO. Otherwise, this is a mostly easy ride except for Lyons Back which has a few steps near the top.

Did this trail or portions of it today. It was kind of hard to figure out how to cross over to rattlesnake gulch trail and get to the elk trail. It was muddy on the back side of the trail. A lot of people hiking and I personally liked the Deer Creek side better. Not my favorite trail.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I had low expectations for this ride. I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised - not blown away, mind you, but pleasantly surprised. It's a nice little ride with some really great scenery.

The GPX map I'm uploading has a couple of differences from what you may have seen published elsewhere. For one, some maps have you cut straight across from the Columbine trail down to the Cathy Johnson trail instead of doing the full loop. That cutoff has been closed so my route puts you on the full loop. I don't know what that closed section was like but the descent down Columbine was the most fun part of the ride for me so no complaints here. Also, the Grazing Elk loop is missing from my route because that section was closed today due to (get this) there is a herd of Grazing Elk there right now and Jeffco wants to leave them undisturbed. That's what I call truth in advertising. I'll try to get back to this park some time after the Grazing Elk loop is open again and I'll update my gpx file at that time.

That being said, I have to mention the quality of the section of trail that spurs over to that loop - it's awful - incredibly rutted out. I have nothing but good things to say about Jeffco Open space - they're a great organization and I realize they have limited resources but this section of trail was really poorly constructed and is quickly turning into a veritable creek and will inevitably braid out. It's pretty much impossible to ride this without doing damage to the landscape so I ended up walking my bike through a lot of it just as a matter of trying to respect the place. I would urge other riders to do the same. * Review edited 4/23/2009* Review edited 4/23/2009

This is a beautiful but easy ride. It has great views of the red rocks as well as the Lockheed Martin facility. The trail is fairly flat and as, as a result, pretty fast. There is nothing remotely technical on this trail. Great for beginners or a quick after work ride.

A great after work ride if you're in the area...otherwise maybe not worth a long drive unless you plan on using this trail as a warm up for some other trail.

These trails have some incredible scenery, including huge rock formations, a must see! I park at the South Valley lot on Deer Creek Canyon Rd. and head up the Coyote Song Trl. Go about 1mi and then take a right up the Lyons Back trail and through the pass to the Columbine trail, take a right and follow the trail about .5mi along some sweet twisty turny downhill singletrack to the Cathy Johnson trail (Jeep rd.). Take a left and go about 1mi, following along the hogback. Take a left at the top of the hill back onto the Columbine trail and follow it back up to the Lyons back. Take a right and go down the 3 switchbacks and down the stone steps if you dare, great section for practicing your skills. Follow the Coyote song trl west to the Valley View Trl (actually an ashpalt bikepath now). Go left on Valley View and follow it to the rd. Take a left and go 100yds or so and then take a right on the Grazing Elk trail, go up the hill to the meadow and follow the 2.2mi loop in either direction. The trail is super narrow and the meadow is surreal with handlebar height meadow grasses waiting to grab you if you veer an inch or two over the edge of the trail. Great fun! You can either take the connector trail that takes you to the Deer Creek Canyon trails or follow the loop back to the road, go across to Swallow Trail and follow it back to Coyote Song and down to the parking lot. Length about 11mi.* Review edited 11/18/2007

trail on the right is fun if you go fast other wise it kinda is boring

This trail network has some easy trails and a few harder ones. You can also link it to deer creek using the rattlesnake gulch trail. It is mainly a beginer area but there are also some harder trails there. The trails on the other side of the road are good too.

I agree with other 2 reviews for the front side of the park but there is a short, sweek single track option. Park in lot by Deer Creek Canyon road and climb up the wide, hiker-oriented Coyote Song trail. Keep going to a road (South Valley Rd) and go right, along the paved bike path. Just before the notch that takes you out to C 470, turn sharp right onto double track; go through fence and do gentle climb along the backside of the ridge that was to your right in the first section. (You are in "Ken-Caryl Ranch Foundation" territory, on the map at the parking lot.) Crest the climb and about 100 yards after, take tight single track to the right. Climb through scrub oak and then roll along, staying high, until you turn right and come over the ridge on Lyon's Back Trail (none of this is marked but it'll show on the map.) Bounce down erosion logs, 10 yards of "slickrock" and cool stone stairs. Beginners - walk this part. Wind down to Coyote Song Trail, turn left and back to parking. I'll give this ride a "6" because of the scenery, short but sweet singletrack, and stone stair descent.