A nice easy loop hike at the Lair O’ the Bear Park starts at the parking lot and follows the Bear Creek Trail west, then go left over the bridge to Castor Cutoff Trail to Bruin Bluff Trail, and then go left over the Ouzel bridge to Bear Creek Trail again. Grab a map at the parking lot for a personal trail map.
This loop trail follows Bear Creek under huge cottonwood trees to a wood planked bridge.
It is a pleasant hike, shaded in areas, slightly uphill through pine trees along the side of a grassy meadow with views of the canyon and the creek. It is a good loop trail within the park where you can experience a little bit of the various micro climates of the park (creek, pine forest, canyon views, grassy meadow).
For a more challenging hike, you may like the Bruin Bluff Trail that moves up over the top of the hill/side of the canyon (1.9 miles loop trail).
One thing to keep in mind is that this park is very crowded on weekends so come on a weekday or early morning to avoid crowds. There are picnic pavillions and grills available along the creekside too.
Don McCurdy says
February 18, 2012 at 9:39 pmAt the ripe old age of 12 I lived in the house that used to be at the bottom of the hill. My sister and I would walk to the top of the hill and wait for the school bus. Vera Ridgeway was our bus driver. She was a sweet old lady that was tough as nails and looked after “her kids.” We rode the bus to Morrison Red Rocks Junior High.
Mary Norton says
March 2, 2012 at 10:05 pm That must have been a wonderful place to grow up. We love hiking there along the creek and picnicking in the trees.
Thanks for posting.
TanyaMAX says
July 30, 2012 at 7:04 pmhello there :0) do you know of any waterfall hikes in (or near) Denver?
marynorton says
August 1, 2012 at 8:13 amHi, it’s harder to find waterfall hikes close to Denver. A couple a little farther outside of the city that I can think of are: Bridal Veil Falls http://funcoloradohikes.com/bridal-veil-falls.html And another is Alberta Falls (in Rocky Mountain National Park).
Carolyn says
August 9, 2013 at 11:04 pmWe just did this hike today, and they’ve change the trail a bit. The directions are perfect, but the distances are a bit off. The shorter loop is about 0.6-0.7 miles and the longer one is 1.3 miles. (The map of the trail available online has the different sections labeled as 0.3, 0.3, 1.3 miles, but at the trailhead, they have the same map but with a slightly different path for Bruin Bluff with distances of 0.2, 0.2, 0.9 now) Fun hike though, we love your site, we use it all the time!