East-West Trail – Highlands Ranch DougCo

Tunage: Hair Metal, Motley Crue, Poison, more

Rode and excellent segment of trail that goes south from Pronghorn Park in Highlands Ranch, southeast on all single track trails. Trails are busy and the wide path shows how much riding traffic this trail sees. There are many trails that lead on onto the Wilderness Areas of Highlands ranch. Many signs declare it as as private property and only residents of Highlands ranch are allowed on the trail. The East-West trail passes through this area, and appears open to the public. But nearly the entire ride had barbed wire fence 30 ft or so on each side. I’ve never seen so much barbed wire fencing that serves no apparent purpose. This entire area is wide open and undeveloped. The fencing is a worthless eyesore. Combined with the private property signs, this place did not feel friendly. But the oh the terrain if fun, and natural setting is gorgeous, and the people along the trail are friendly. I did stop and speak to a family who lived at the ranch and they did not suggest there was any reason for me not to ride these trails despite signage.

Mid-day moisture hazes up distance views. My route on the trail was uphill all the way to midpoint at Grigs Rd. Then mostly downhill fun on the return.
Generous dirt trails with very few rocks. The green thing on the handlebar is the bike bell.
A solid, simple, and effective mountain identifier.
Despite 4 pages of printed maps, I was confused at most crossroads. Those signs were worthless. There is NO good map that I’ve seen about this trail.
This is the highest point overlooking highlands ranch and here southeast. Like Green Mountain, these highpoints offer dramatic front range scenery.

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