Travois Trail/ Centennial Cone Park

Centennial Cone Park is located west of Golden. Take Hwy 93 north to Golden Gate Canyon Road.   Follow this windy road through the canyon to Robinson Hill Road  to get to the Northern Trailhead.  This park closes certain months for Hunting or mating season and some days are biking days (even) and hiking (odd) days.   Above is a pic of the "cone" which has the highest elevation in the park at 8679.

There are several different trails to take in the park. We chose a longer one (9 miles) and begun at Travois Trail. There is good signage at each junction. We took the Evening sun loop and hooked back up to Travois Trail.

I loved the beautiful trees on this hike. Some were twisted and barely hanging onto the cliffs. There were beautiful views of the mountains in the distance.

After  you get going you will be on a rocky outcropping overlooking clear creek canyon. If you look way down you can spot several creeks. At some points you will be climbing up or down switchbacks due to the elevation gain of 1,400 feet.

We went as far as the bridge at Elk Creek. This was a good spot for lunch and then to head back. The entire loop is about 13- 14 miles and seemed a bit long for everyone.

There were mainly evergreen trees dotted across the hills. Im sure in the spring it would look completely different.

Centennial Cone is located in the center of the loop trail. The ranger told us you can climb it if you go offtrail  from the Elk range trail.

I would rate this hike moderate to difficult because of the steep climb at the end of the hike.  A shorter version would be 5.2 miles with 600 elevation gain to the rocky outcropping and back.