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    Hessie Trailhead

    4.8 (21 reviews)
    Open 5:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Hessie Trailhead Photos

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    4WD trail through the creek!
    Chuck M.

    This is a great little 4WD trail to take for an early morning or late afternoon run. The trail runs along the former of Township of Hessie, one of Colorado's high altitude and short-lived, mining towns. The site is now a large meadow with some great views of the surrounding peaks and glacier basins. For most of the trail you are driving up a small stream which gets a little deep at one point, probably 10-15 inches. There a few large rocks that are usually submerged in early spring with the snow melt. The trail is only about a half mile long but challenging and fun. I made up and back on the trail with a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee

    Jessica T.

    Loved this hike to lost lake! I went as a solo female hiker and I felt safe and the trail was easy to follow I got directions to the trail head from All Trails and I had no problems!

    Mercedes W.

    Moderate hike. Absolutely gorgeous end at a beautiful lake. Parking is PACKED. Do yourself a favor, park at Nederland High and take the shuttle. When I got there on a Sunday around 12 I took the last parking spot at the SCHOOL. The driver said there's usually a line for the shuttle at the school. I've recommended this to all of my friends and it's been a go to hike for me. Pretty easy... might take a couple of breaks on the way up but nothing to strenuous for someone who is acclimated. I recommend bringing lunch or a hammock to relax by the lake. It's beautiful.

    Alexandra F.

    Busy and popular, so go on a weekday or very early to get a good parking spot and on the trail without the crowd. If you come here, it really doesn't matter which trail you go on, all will be popular with travelers and all will be beautiful. This is a lakes galore trailhead, so if you are looking for a shiny cool dip at the end of a 3-7mile hike, Hessie is a good place to start. There is a map at the beginning of the trailhead to help you pick your course, but we didn't seems to find our desired hike and ended up on a different one. I liked how we went through forest, inclines, meadows and waterfalls... Intermediate to advance hikes, this is a good place to go if you have 3 hours or 3 days. * Star one for this thing called fresh air ** Out of breath star two is for giving me a challenge to get that heart rate up *** Time to eat star three is for giving me a reason to say I am hungry so I can eat my sandwich **** Ooh ahh star four is for pretty waterfalls that make that waterfall sound

    Rosemarie B.

    I LOVE this trailhead because there are so many options for beautiful destinations with varying levels of difficulty and mileage. For guests visiting from sea level, I take them on what I thought was the shortest trail to Lost Lake. The altitude may get to some, but it's worth it if you can hike through! Bring water and if you want to camp, there are even campsites that you can rent out!

    Jean Y.

    It's a gorgeous snowshoeing trail! About 1hr drive from Golden where we live. It's helpful to have 4x4 in the snowy days. Parking yesterday (Sunday) was very limited, didn't see any parking lot so everyone was parking on the one side of the road. We got there about 11:30 am, about 20+cars there. We started snowshoeing from the trail head. It was snowing and windy, Definitely looked like a winter wonderland here! About 3-4 ft of snow on the ground when we were up higher in the trail. The snow, the trees, the trail were so beautiful! The air is so fresh but get thinner when we went up higher. We had to stop few times to slow down the heartbeat, catch the breath and hydrated ourselves. ESP. The last last mile of the snowshoeing up to the Lost Lake. We went slow and enjoyed the nature, took us 2.5 hours up to the Lake which was totally turned into a flat iceland covered by snow. We took a little break here and snowshoeing back, much easier this time, only 1.5 hour. We passed 3 bridges. Imaged in the summer must be very nice views with water flowing under the bridges and in the Lake! We will be back to enjoy that! Lots of people snowshoeing and cross country skiing here too. We only wished the trail can mark the sign better. We were little confused about where should we go and how far. Thank goodness for the cellphones' help. We had a wonderful time here yesterday!

    Pic of map @ trailhead
    Sammy L.

    Parking: VERY limited parking unless you own a lifted/4wd vehicle but on a Tuesday morning at 8am my friend and I grabbed one of the last spots alongside the road. Parking to Hessie Trailhead: Flat, easy walk down a dirt road. Hessie Trailhead toWoodland Lake: Such a beautiful, moderate/easy difficult trail alongside a swift moving creek. Lots of wildflowers, butterflies, and waterfalls. We were warned by a USFS volunteer that there was a female moose in the area with calves but *not warned about the state of the Woodland lake trail*. About 3+ miles in, the trail turned into a mess that alternated between fast moving water and knee deep snow. We kept loosing the trail, backtracking to where we last knew it was then lost it again and again (there are NO blazings or cairns-it being wilderness and all). With soaked feet we kept trying until we counted 5 hikers just as confused as we were. We decided to cut our hike short & headed back down. Too bad, really tried to find the trail but just couldn't! While we saw lots of signs of moose activity (hoof marks in the mud and snow; scat), we did not come across any wildlife bigger than a chipmunk. Lost Lake: We did this short trail on our way back. Easy hike up to a small lake which was very busy for a Tuesday. Lots of children and families seemed to be enjoying the campsites around the tiny lake. Overall, well worth muddy feet. Our round trip wander took us 6 hours including a lunch break.

    Jennifer P.

    Let me preface this by saying that I am not a hiker. This was my first experience, but it was SO fun. And exhausting. But mostly fun. Most of the hike was next to a spring with rushing water and waterfalls. We were able to go off trail and follow a small path in the forest right next to the water. It was so clean we drank out of the spring. There were parts that were difficult, but not too bad for a newbie. Definitely manageable. And the best part was getting to the top and seeing Lost Lake. So beautiful and totally worth the climb.

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    13 years ago

    A great place for casual to more intense hikes. As mentioned, it can get very busy, so start early!

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    Review Highlights - Hessie Trailhead

    For guests visiting from sea level, I take them on what I thought was the shortest trail to Lost Lake.

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    Boulder Falls - Miss Mariko the Cavi's first time in the snow!

    Boulder Falls

    4.2(30 reviews)
    10.7 mi

    I love Boulder Falls…read more It's a quick drive from downtown Boulder, and it's so beautiful. Although it has stairs, it's a short walk from the parking lot. Just be careful of the street you have to cross from the parking lot. The walk from the parking lot is less than 15 minutes. The falls are beautiful in the summer and winter. It can get crowded, but most people don't stay long. In the summer, there are a few areas where you can get in the water. It's a really beautiful area.

    This is a local attraction in Boulder Canyon that I have visited occasionally since 1974 but…read more probably not in the last 20-30 years. With out of town guests who wanted to see it, we went up with them today which was hot even by 9am. Not ideal for me. There was adequate parking in a small lot on the south side of the Canyon, just before the crossover to the entrance to the short but steep hike.Being a Monday morning, not very busy. Be aware that weekends are extremely busy and not enough parking. I believe that the trail has been improved some over the years from our past memory of it. There are actually some steps cut into the steepest of the rock surfaces and some heavy duty chain handrails in the areas with he steepest drop off. We saw little kids as well as grandparents. so if I can still do it, many others can. Cooler weather would have been nice. The waterfall is quite pretty. It was roaring even in a drought because of a few heavy rains last weekend and such hot weather in this climate change era that the snow pack in the mountains is melting too quickly this summer. A must see if you are visiting this area. A many athletes do visit too.

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    Boulder Falls - The falls

    The falls

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    Boulder Falls - Boulder Falls.

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    Boulder Falls.

    Chautauqua Park - More excavators

    Chautauqua Park

    4.8(348 reviews)
    16.9 mi

    Things are changing here after 100 years. Chautauqua Auditorium is being renovated and winterized…read more It had been needed before this as another concert venue in Boulder would have been appreciated sooner but once Boulder won Sundance it became a necessity. But when you come in the summer it will still look the same. A removable heated tent will be erected inside and heated by geothermal heat from underneath that will be transferred underground from the dining hall kitchen's surplus stored energy. So modern in such an old structure. So when you visit this spring there is a lot of truck traffic and digging and detours around the building but you can see from the last picture, the green and the view of the Flatirons are undisturbed.

    Overall, it was a refreshing late October hike on the Flatiron Loop trail! Since we were first time…read morevisitors, we asked for a trail recommendation at the ranger station that fit in with our plans, so something in the 2-hr range. They suggested going in a counterclockwise direction which got the elevation gain done sooner and would finish with a more gradual descent. Being a sea-level creature, I did have to catch my breath a few times on the way up. Now, at the uppermost part of the loop after a bunch of stone steps, there were some all-rock areas where hunching down with a hand or two on the rock helped with balance. Afterward we noted signs on the trail allowing horses. They must have goat like abilities for those rocky parts, I thought. If you like seeing people, there were plenty during the early afternoon hours, sometimes making passing on narrow trail sections a little tricky. We got lucky with parking, going around the large grassy area only once. On the way out, we thanked the ranger for the great recommendation, gave up our parking spot to the next lucky person and went on our way, with plenty of time for our next activity.

    Photos
    Chautauqua Park - More wall and door work

    More wall and door work

    Chautauqua Park - Audience on the Green

    Audience on the Green

    Chautauqua Park - Sunrise (2/26/23)

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    Sunrise (2/26/23)

    Hessie Trailhead - hiking - Updated May 2026

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