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Tags:
Level: Advanced
Length: 8 mi (12.9 km)
Surface: Singletrack
Configuration: Network
Elevation: +1,136/ -572 ft
Total: 667 riders
Mountain Biking Apex Park
#9 of 1,391 mountain bike trails in Colorado
From the Heritage Square parking lot, take Apex trail west into Apex gulch. Take a right onto the first trail that branches off about a mile up. This is the Pick n' Sledgetrail. Follow this for 0.9 miles until it branches with the Grubstakeloop. Take a right onto Grubstake and follow it as it winds around the mountain and you start going south again. When you see the Sluiceboxtrail, take it down to Apex trail. Once back on Apex, take a right and go up the gulch. Once you get to the Enchanted forest trailhead, you have 2 options. This point is the bottom of a loop, so you can either keep going up Apex and descend the Enchanted Forest, or do it in reverse. Either way there are steep uphills and fun downhills. Once you finish the loop, get back on Apex and descend to the parking lot.
First added by alvin.santoy on Dec 31, 2002. Last updated Dec 9, 2020. → add an update
Before you go
- Drinking water: yes
- Lift service: no
- Night riding: yes
- Pump track: unknown
- Restrooms: yes
- Fat bike grooming: unknown
- E-bikes allowed: unknown
- Fee required: no
This trail information is user-generated. Help improve this information by suggesting a correction.
From the I-25 and 6th Ave. intersection in Denver, go west on 6th. As you get close to the foothills, you will drive under I-70.After the underpass, take your first left at the stoplight.You will be turning onto Hwy. 40. Drive on 40 for about a mile. Pull into the Heritage Square parking lot on your right, and park on the north side next to the trailhead.
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Can't believe it took me all these years to get out there. This was pure fun.
| ThankOn Early part of Apex trail there is a brook but woild only use for drinking water if you have purifying tablets or a good filter
| ThankGood trail. Well maintained. Very popular with hikers on the weekends. Enchanted Forest was a fun decent. No complaints
| ThankSuch an amazing trail. We did it on a Friday, it was all uphill for 3.5 miles and about 2.75 of decent. Well worth the climb. Some technical sections but nothing too difficult!
| ThankI like that this system is entirely single track. The route I prefer is to go up from the parking lot and take a right, saving Apex trail for the final descent. I climb all the way up and prefer to do clockwise on Grubstake loop as I find it more fun this way. After completing that loop I head down the back way to do counter clockwise on Enchanted forest. I'm sorry I don't recall all the in between trail names but I find this way to be the most enjoyable. After coming out of enchanted forest I like going down Apex trail. Can only do this way on Apex and Enchanted Forest on even numbered days.
| ThankThis is a great ride that has both technical uphill sections and downhill sections. Overall, it's packed dirt with rock sections. There are multiple trails and loops so you can easily put in some miles. Overall, a great trail system!
| ThankA fun technical support place to ride close to town, but typically very crowded.
| ThankI enjoyed this trail the couple times I rode it, but there was always WAY too much traffic for my taste so I usually avoided the area. (Three stars mainly because it is too busy.)
| ThankA good trail for those looking at a good downhill run, but be ready to do all the uphill climbing first. It was about 1000 ft up in the 2 miles to get to the top and then 1000 ft down back the start or repeat the loop. This is popular with hikers so take caution on the downhill and be ready for some rocky sections that make require walking for the intermediate riders. Even saw a rattlesnake along the trail on the downhill!
| ThankThe easier way up is the steeper argos trail. The apex trail that stays low is actually much harder to to go up because of all the rock obstacles, but coming down it is one of the best around. The enchanted forest loop is awesome also.
| ThankYou really gotta work to get to the top, but the descent is definitely worth it. All the technical stuff that sucks going up is really fun going down.
| ThankWe climbed Chimney Gulch and descended Apex, so I can't comment on the climb, but I'm sure that everyone will be challenged, and the amount of hike-a-bike will vary by skill level. I will say that the descent of Enchanted Forest is one of the better JeffCo descents, and depending on your skills you could go pretty big or keep it very tame.
| ThankThe lower parts of the trail system, out on the dry hillside, I found rather lack-luster; fun but run-of-the-mill for JeffCo parks...
Also: LOTS of hikers, runners, dog-walkers can get in the way of having a flowy descent.
I worked not too far from this trail when I lived in CO I would go as often as I could you gotta know that this a multi use trail so watch out for HORSES as a lot people around there ride their horses, besides that totally technical trail great for beginners and advanced riders. Awesome rock gardens to ascend and descend it will get a little slick after one of the little rain showers doesn't happen that often but when it does it gets slick I like to take the Grubstake trial to the top and come down the back way the trail is easily marked with signage so you can keep track where you are pretty tough climb to the top but fun as hell coming down I've endo over the bars a few times but all in all I love this trail.
| ThankBe mindful of the Jeffco Open Space website and the TH kiosks which show the alternating uses on these trails. That said, it's a great trail system that is easily accessible from south Golden by bike. I used to ride up Lookout Mountain and descend Apex Gulch and you can also combine this with Chimney Gulch to the north with a little road riding. Nice scenic area with some uber-technical sections
| ThankI have done this trial once so far but I plan on going back and trying different routes. I love that there is so much good signage on this trail network. My favorite segments are definitely Enchanted Forest and Grubstake. They both run through wooded areas so the dirt is more tacky and there are plenty of fun roots and rocks to test your skills on. Don't skip those two! The lower part of Apex is very technical (not the fun kind) with jagged rocks that ruin the flow and have big consequences for messing up. Also, I don't know what is with Jefferson County's obsession with erosion bars (e.g. White Ranch) but they put them on a lot of switchback turns which kills momentum and causes sand build-up. Anyway, enough complaining. This is a well-maintained challenging trail that is worth the time if you're in the general area.
| ThankThis is an awesome trail! I climbed up Argos trail, linked to the Grubestake Loop, down the Sluicebox Trail, and reconnected with the Apex Trail. Rode this to the top and then linked up with Lookout Mountain Trail, and then descended Chimney Gulch trail. Dropped into Golden, and then rode the pedestrian trail back to the Apex Park parking lot for a nice loop. Both trails are super clean, smooth and fast. Nice, big easy climbs on Argos and super fast descents. Highly recommend both of these trails. If I were to try this loop again - I think I would start at the Chimney Gulch trail, climb to the top of Lookout Mountain, and then descend Apex. I think Apex would be really fun and fast coming back down, but be careful, there are lots of people on these trails.
| ThankLots of rocks - hard to maintain any momentum on the way up, but fun to ride down. Would make a lot of sense as a shuttle ride from the top.
| Thank**Certain parts of this trail are directional on ODD days** This isn't mentioned anywhere and its fairly important as enchanted Forrest is one of those parts (you can only ride up on odd days)
| ThankThis is my new favorite trail to ride near Denver. The climb gets pretty technical in spots, definitely hike a bike territory for me, but for the most part its very manageable. The descents have a good mix of rocky technical sections and flowy turns. Will definitely ride again soon
This is probably my favorite trail in the Denver area. Up front you get a rideable uphill, and then on the way back you get some really good and super techinical downhill.
| ThankSteep but very ridable. We saw a herd of about 60 elk on top, just hanging out.
| Thank