They say a picture is worth a thousand words, in this case a rock is worth a thousand pictures. This is Picture Rock Trail, heralding the famous Lyons picture rock sandstone, quarried from this area and the rock source of many buildings for the old campus at CU Boulder and historic downtown Denver.
It’s always fun to discover a “new” single track trail we haven’t done before and this one didn’t disappoint for its history and beauty. We chose to start from Lyons’ Bohn Park to add some mileage to our bike trip and get to view the rebuilt park that was destroyed in the 2013 floods in northern Colorado. This connector trail quickly joins the Picture Rock Trail which climbs up through Heil Ranch.
A couple miles in, the sandstone picnic table appears which provides a great example of the picture rock once quarried here. As one climbs further we move through a forested area and begin to see old sandstone foundations and structures that reveal the habitants that once lived here, quarrymen and farmers. As you near the quarry, a sentinel old silo stands guard amongst sandstone rock walls that may once had been corrals for cows and horses or barracks for the quarrymen. Old farm plows and then old car frames come into view once the quarry is reached. We turned around here, but the trail continues up the mountain to several intertwined routes.
As we amass more blogs on some of our favorite paved/graded and single track mountain bike trails we will also post our top ten trails of each for those that want to explore with us.