Hiking – South Table Mountain

We will follow the Cretaceous Trail 0.2 miles north from the parking lot, east 0.2 miles adjacent to Denver West Parkway, then cross Denver West Parkway to the South Table Mountain Park easement. We’ll continue to the top of the mesa on the Tertiary Trail and Basalt Cap Loop Trail, with a brief stop at Carl’s Point lookout (elevation 6,052 ft). We'll continue counter-clockwise on the Basalt Cap Loop Trail, back to the Cretaceous Trail, and retrace our tracks to the parking lot. This urban hike takes us across the geologic K-Pg boundary from approximately 66 million years ago, though the event is not visually distinct here. One source for details of local geology is the free publication Golden Rocks: The Geology and Mining History of Golden, Colorado; it is available to read online through the Colorado School of Mines library.

Meet at 7:00am at the South Table Mountain Camp George West Trailhead Parking Lot, 1219 Kilmer Street, Golden, CO, 80401, located at the Pleasant View Community Park at Camp George West. Accessed by turning north onto Kilmer Street from South Golden Road. Port-a-potty located at this parking lot. We will leave the parking lot to start by 7:15am.