Hidden Mesa

Fun little ride with some nice scenery. Pleasant View Trail provides a flowy 1.3 mile downhill or relatively easy climb. The loop on top has little nuggets along the way. Rocky Pass makes for a short but legit steep climb.

Hidden Mesa is a quick fun ride. The main moderate climb up to the mesa is easy, and but enough to get your heart pumping. Nice views from the mesa, with nice rock gardens on the middle and west edges. Great for a quick 40-50 minute workout, if parking at the HWY 83 trail head.

Great loop with some technical obstacles, but also has fast, float rollers at some points and some really fun sections. More advanced riders should definitely ride the rocky pass downhill--the most fun section imo. Rocky pass has some large rocks and drops up to 2 feet, but can be ridden on a hardtail. It is steep, perfectly loose, and towards the bottom has some crazy fun jumps and harmed corners.

Very nice short trail near Franktown with enough technical features to keep all level riders interested. We parked at the trailhead off of 83 & found we had to pedal a ways to get to the fun stuff. I recommend parking at the Pleasant View Trailhead. Rocky Pass section has a very loose climb but the downhill was a blast. Mesa Rim Loop is really nice place to work on skills riding rock.

Short rocky trail with a few small technical areas.

A nice trail close to the SE Aurora that offers a nice mix of terrain. Not a destination spot, but a good place to get a quick fix when you are pressed for time.

Only easy if you want it to be, nice local trail

Let me start this review off by saying if you're looking for a challenging ride, Hidden Mesa has it. If you're looking for a low key discover and explore ride to just enjoy the outdoors Hidden Mesa is your ride.

The ride starts off pretty easy with some single track that gets a bit wider the closer to the top you get. It's pretty untechnical from here until you get to the climb. Newly put in, there is a trail off to the right which is far easier, more flowy and less technical. But who doesn't love rocks? Our first ascent took us up this new trail. There were a few switch backs and rollers making this a pretty fun, though short downhill.

The real beauty of Hidden Mesa is the top. Once you've reached the top you get a beautiful view and some amazing technical riding. With a huge open area of pick-your-own-line across a wide variety of rocks, you get to practice all those technical skills that are a little harder to find otherwise. Drops can go up to 10ft or more, or if you're a little less adventurous you can settle with 1ft and 3ft drops. Turning those drops into step-ups is more fun. It's a challenging little exercise of footwork and weight balance to throw your bike 3-5ft up into the air in order to make it onto a rock.

This is definitely a ride for skills and trials riding as there is a ton. I ended up meeting a guy named Mark who was doing some really fun and crazy lines. It's always great to meet new folks on the trail who can give you pointers.

My other favorite part of the trail was the beastly climb we had skipped in the beginning. My ride style is down and that's where we went. It's pretty challenging navigating down really loose rock. It'll get your "learn how to break on loose rock" skills up really quickly. If you have a clear path you can catch quite a lot of speed which is really fun when those jumps come. Despite only being a few inches off the ground you can really get some air on them.

Overall it's a pretty short loop but you can really make a day of it. Hidden Mesa is really great for a novice rider to get used to riding, or an advanced rider looking to work on some technical skills.

Nice trail, beginner level with a few steep climbs.

Nothing too special to add to what everyone else said. Basic climb up to the mesa, the last 150 yards or so are the most challenging, a couple ledges to get over, but there's a bypass if you don't feel up to it. Loop is pretty straightforward, some good rockgardens, but little/no elevation change up top. Does have a great view. Loops until you're bored, and then the downhill is fun, albeit short. Similarly, first 100 yards provide a minimal challenge, and the rest is just flat out.

Note: As of 7/23, they had just mowed, so there is basically straw all over the bottom third of the trail. Not a big deal, unless you're hauling on the downhill. Be prepared to not stop at all. . . .

Fun after work ride if you live in Franktown or Founders Village in Castle Rock. You earn the down hill for sure on this. The way up is a bit rocky but going down is fun. Once you get to the top there is a fund rock play ground to bunny hop and dink around on.

Do a few laps it a little short

This is a fun beginner trail. The approach to the loop is a friendly fire road which would be friendly even for a cyclocross bike. To get to the main trail, you will have to take part of the Cherry creek trail from the parking lot which is mostly concrete. The approach to the loop is a bit of a hairy up hill with loose rocks and technical sections but it does not take very long to get up it. Once you are at the top of the Mesa there is nothing too tough. There are beginner technical sections in the loop to practice on but nothing too hairy or scary for a noob. It would have been amazing if the trail were longer though. We did the loop 3 times just go get more out of the ride. Otherwise, this is a true beginner trail. Not too long to overwhelm or too technical to discourage. You can definitely take a new rider here, a kid or girlfriend even.

Parking lot on Prairie View is under construction for the next month. You cannot access the trail from the west side.

road May 27th and trail is in great shape. Not too dusty, and most puddle areas have dried up.

Absolutely one of my favorite trails to ride. Other than the ride up to the mesa which is a great way to build up to fitness, the rest of this ride I feel is fairly good for beginners, yet still a lot of fun for more advanced riders. The only drawback is that it's also used by folks with their horses and this requires to you to slow down and be cautious as not to spook the beasts :).
Tip: get there early on weekends before the horses are out.
The more advanced you are fitness wise, the more loops you do around the mesa once you're up there. And coming down is just a blast.

This trail is a lollipop configuration. The loop begins atop a short but technical climb.

Atop the mesa it's a playground of slickrock and rolling grasslands. To add mileage alternate riding the loop clockwise / counterclockwise before descending to the trailhead.

Great place if you live nearby. Great place for a beginner and the trail dries fairly quickly. Also, it has a little bit of everything, single track, a very short technical downhill and some more advanced rocks to climb if that is what you like. I ride here regularly as it is very close to my house, would recommend if you live nearby.

Half of the loop at the top of the mesa is praire singletrack. The other half is somewhat technical going over and around rocks and very small dropoffs.

Climb up to the mesa from the Cherry Creek trail is a steady grade for a bit with one steep, loose, technical section that is a challenge on the way up and a blast on the way down.

Watch out for the horse riders. Some of them can be a tad on the aggro side.

Great trail-real tough climb initially as steep and very rocky. Once your on top the loop is a ton of fun. Realtively flat with some hard technical boulders-very fun. A welcomed change from some of the other trails in Castle Rock/Parker area. I ended up doing 13 miles in about 1.25 hrs. The best part is when you go home-as from the top back to the parking lot is mostly down hill or flat-just a blast* Review edited 8/8/2012