Open Space Update 8/20/2020
Lava Loop Trail
On Saturday, we hosted our first public volunteer project at South Table Mountain. A total of 30 enthusiastic volunteers were able to finish 1,200 feet of the new Lava Loop Trail alignment. A big thank you goes out to the Trails Team for successfully leading our volunteers and implementing our new COVID protocols, which kept everyone safe.
Apex Park – Gate Installations
With the September 10th management change at Apex Park on the horizon, the Team has been hard at work installing gates to accommodate the new odd/even day requirements. Rock solid work, team!
Clear Creek Canyon Park Trail Improvements: Gateway Segment
In order to make the necessary repairs to the wooden flume we need to bring lots of materials and equipment onsite. There is one major problem though, Clear Creek stands in the way! Our contractor has come up with ingenious, custom solution to this problem. Take a look at the high line now crossing the creek approximately where our suspension bridge will be located. Built out of lots of pieces of parts that run off of a skid steer and a generator, this beauty can haul upwards of 2,000 pounds. What was the first thing sent across the creek? The wheels for the drill that will make the structural repairs to the flume.
Mental Health First Aid Training
The Ranger Team completed mental health first aid training this week. This is a required training that is refreshed annually. Facilitated by our very own in-house instructors Maria S. and Shaun H. This training better prepares the team to deal with visitors in the park that may be in a mental crisis. This could be due to illness, substance abuse, depression, suicide etc.
Today we have a little history lesson plus a talk about proper trail etiquette. I want to show you what happens when visitors to the parks fail to #StayOnTrail.
The trail took six years to finish; it was completed in 1971. To build the switchbacks, Jack had to move boulders that weighed up to two tons with just his block and tackle – truly a labor of love! The rock retaining walls on the trail stand as a tribute to his efforts.
According to Colorado Lifestyle: “No one ever hikes the Lubahn Trail by itself. Instead they use it as the primary way to get part way up South Table Mountain in Golden and then use one of the many unofficial (social) trails to the top of Castle Rock (formally known as Table Rock). According to the city, this additional excursion is illegal because it traverses private property.”
These photos show what can (and does) happen to a trail when it’s abused. Over its lifetime, trekkers and hill climbers, on foot and mountain bike, have short-cut the switchbacks, causing damage – in some places, significant damage – to the original rock work that forms the walls that line the trail. As a knowledgeable Park Visitor, I’m sure you would never do something like this, because if you did, then you would be adding to the damage on the trail.
As you can see from these photos, the Lubahn Trail can be narrow in parts. Social distancing in this age of Covid is not possible when encountering others coming in the opposite direction, so have your mask ready and put it on. 
There is no clear boundary between the private and JCOS land, although there are some recently installed posts on the JCOS border along the new JCOS trail, saying that it is private land behind the posts. None of these posts are visible from where one attains the mesa top via the Lubahn trail, and no one taking the Lubahn would have any way of knowing they were on private land. It’s also not clear where the border is between city of Golden and private land.
A half-block away is the new JCOS trail. It has a COVID signboard plus a newly installed map of South Table Mountain open space. There is no official parking or public restrooms. The neighborhood street is almost always packed with parked cars. Any park visitor would assume both trails are sanctioned for use. A very common hike is to go up one trail and come down the other.
