Matthew Winters Park- Red Rocks Trail Golden

Matthews Winters Park Trailhead is located in Golden off 470 on County Hwy 63. Red Rocks Ampitheater is right next to the hiking park and the beautiful rocks can be seen at the end of the trail.  This is a nice hike for spring and Fall because of the lower altitude will be hot in summer. We went here because it had been so rainy and the upper mountain trails were mud. We start off on the VillageWalk that turns into the Red Rocks Trail.

There are several different trailheads to access the park. The elevation workout is closest to this parking area that has some restrooms, picnic tables, and bench. There is also a parking area at the end of the hike and across the road at the Dinosaur Ridge Visitor Center. Here is link to the map:
http://jeffco.us/open-space/parks/matthews-winters-park/

The Trail starts off in a meadow basically flat. We saw many runners on this trail.

There is a small creek crossing and you are in the trees for a short while until you get to a fork in the trail.

Here you can choose to go uphill on the Morrison Slide trail (1.2 miles) that switchbacks to the peak with a great view of Denver or red rocks trail (.8 m) that is relatively flat going around the hill on a ridge.

Once you get to the top it levels off a while till you reach the other side.

Views to the south towards Red rocks.

After heading downhill some more switchbacks you will meet up with the other trail. Here you can make a loop the other trail or continue toward red rocks ampitheater on the red rocks trail for 1.2 miles more. Your will end up at a another parking lot.

Heading back the Red Rocks Trail to our parking area we started.

Back at our start with the bridge and creek. Total miles we did was about 5.   But you could add more miles on either direction.