Lair O' the Bear Mountain Bike

Nearby Guides

Viewed 6019 times

(0 votes)

Difficulty: Moderate
Length: 14.4 miles / 23 km
Duration: 1-3 hours

Family Friendly • Dog Friendly

Download to Phone

View Large Map

View Photos

Overview: This is a fun intermediate difficulty mountain bike trail west of Morrison, Colorado. It is mostly a rolling trail with a moderate amount of climbing. Technically it is an intermediate trail with an occasional short advanced technical sections thrown in.

Directions to trail: From Denver, make your way to Morrison. This is a cute little town and a great place to have some food/beer after the ride (i.e. The Morrison Inn). Take Highway 74 west for about 4 miles. I started my ride at Little Park so I could get a little more mileage in. Most people will start at the main parking lot (POI #5). The trail described is from Little Park.

If you want to make this an even longer ride, continue on Parmalee Gulch Road after POI #19 and follow signs for Mount Falcon Park. You will be at the uppermost parking lot of Mount Falcon and you can do the Mount Falcon trail.

Points of Interest

map

Little Park Parking lot

I like to park here instead of the official Lair O' the Bear Parking Lot.

map

Bear Creek and Bruin Bluff Intersection

At 0.56 miles from the start, you will come to this intersection. Go right and continue on the Bear Creek trail heading toward the main parking lot.

map

0.62 miles

Continue following the sign for Bear Creek trail.

map

0.73 miles

You will be crossing the main jeep road that leads to the official parking lot for the Lair O' the Bear trail. Watch for traffic as you carefully cross the road to the singletrack on the other side.

map

Lair O' the Bear Parking lot

You will have just passed the main parking lot at 0.89 miles. The trail continues here at the west end of the parking lot.

map

0.97 miles

This is a sign you will pass here. Continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

1 mile

This is the intersection with the Bruin Bluff trail. Stay on the Bear Creek trail. On the return trip, take the Bruin Bluff trail for more singletrack (see POI#20).

map

1.12 miles

Another sign you will pass. Continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

1.23 miles.

One more sign you will pass. Continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

2.13 miles

This is where the real fun starts. The Bear Creek trail takes an almost 180 degree turn here and the climb starts.

map

3.5 miles

This is essentially the top of the climb. This is the marker you will see here. Now begins some fun rolling mostly downhill singletrack for a little while.

map

4.12 miles

This is a sign you will see here. All of the signs you will see off of the Bear Creek trail are for hiking only trails. Stay on the Bear Creek trail.

map

4.25 miles

Another sign you will pass. Continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

5.23 miles

Yet another sign you will pass. Continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

5.47 miles

Pass another sign. Continue on Bear Creek trail.

map

5.99 miles

Pass yet another sign. Once again, continue on the Bear Creek trail.

map

6.01 mikes

Pass another sign. Continue on Bear Creek trail.

map

6.39 miles

Continue on Bear Creek trail.

map

7.08 miles

End of the trail. Trail dumps you out onto the Myers Gulch Road. Turn around here and return the way that you came.

On your return trip, I recommend taking the Bruin Bluff trail at POI #7 if you want more singletrack riding. If not, just return exactly the way that you came.

map

13.07 miles

You can go either way here. If you want more climbing, take the Bruin Bluff trail. Either way, both trails are about a mile in length and will return you to POI #2.

Finish the ride and continue on to POI End.

Pictures in this guide taken by: MooniakRides

How does this work?