Mountain Lion Trail is a 6.9 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Golden, Colorado that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from April until November. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Golden Gate Canyon State Park charges a fee to enter. Entrance fees are $10/vehicle or $4/person for any non-vehicle entry. An annual pass is also available for $80.
At the trail head parking lot, there is an outhouse and trash bins. You'll need a day pass for the park.
Absolutely needed spikes today. Some of the bridges were pure ice. It was incredible to cross over and see the views. We went counterclockwise.
Deff need ice spikes - river over flowed onto bridges and trails. See pics
Lovely hike. Not strenuous. Only a few people. Icy in spots, but we did it without putting on our spikes. Not enough show for snowshoes (at the moment). Mostly sheltered from wind. Not crowded. Ample parking.
Jesse and I set our new distance and elevation highs, over 8 miles and 1,900 feet! it was a beautiful day and trail for a nice, long hike!
Parking lot was very empty, not many souls on the trail. The detour to Windy Peak is worth it! Spikes were perfect for the trail conditions.
No Jesse today. I went out raptor monitoring with the new Program Coordinator, so we only did a short hike and toured around the park.
Hiked Mountain Lion Trail CCW plus the side trail to Windy Peak for 9 mi total. Definitely recommend spikes especially for the East half of the loop; it is less icy on the west half. Trail never got too busy - even on Sunday only about half a dozen cars were in the lot at 9a and 2p.
Awesome hike. Beautiful day. Detour to windy peak is a must. Spikes recommended.
great hike. windy peak is fantastic. There was high wind today.
Awesome winter hike on a sunny day. Be sure to take the Windy Peak side trip; it had the best views. Only saw six people today and all of them were in the last three miles.
Great trail - loved it!! Took the extra mile to Windy Peak which is definitely worth the view. Was able to park on a Saturday in January with no problem - got to the trailhead a little before noon. Didn’t need my spikes for half the trail, but was glad I had them for the other half. Pretty windy so be prepared for that.
Beautiful trail. Yaktrax could be handy on some of the hills, but was totally manageable in approach shoes.
Really beautiful trail through gorgeous woods along a stream. Most of the elevation gain is gradual going around the loop counterclockwise. We felt good when the trail met with Windy Peak so we decided to add that mile on - it was worth it for the beautiful views but the most challenging part of the day. There was a lot of fresh snow on the ground and I could have managed without my spikes since there was not much ice but wore them most of the hike. Would definitely recommend this trail!
Hiked on Christmas Day. Had a great mix of open grassland and thick pine forest. If going counterclockwise, from like miles 2-4 are very shaded so you’ll be walking through some decent snow. It’s a little packed down, but deep enough that it was tiring. We did the spur to Windy Peak which was honestly the highlight, so work the extra 0.5 mile each way! The second half of the trail was mostly dry with some slick spots here and there. Overall we clocked about 8 miles with the Windy Peak detour. There are hunters so I would bring a bright vest, I luckily had my work one in my car that I was able to wear.