South Boulder Creek Trail

This trailhead is located just off Baseline Road just west of where it intersects with Cherryvale Road. It is a good sized parking lot, but is known to fill up in late afternoons when people get off work and want to explore the South Boulder Creek Trail. It also can fill up on weekends.
By the way, the Bobolink Trailhead is named after the ground-nesting bird of the same name.

Since this is such a popular trail, the first mile + provides a dual trail system for bikers and hikers. Although either trail can be utilized by either group, most frequently, hikers and dog-walkers use the gravel trail and bikers use the cement trail. This dual-trail system keeps the very popular path much less congested and much friendlier.

What looks like a major trail junction really only accesses a short trail that crosses creek and (currently) doesn't go very far into Boulder.

Even though this trail intersects two major roads, it goes under each of them offering safe, car-free biking and hiking.

Probably due to the cattle grazing on this portion of the trail, dogs are not allowed on the portion of the trail south of South Boulder Road. Dogs are welcome on the portion of trail from Bobolink trailhead (Baseline Road) to South Boulder Road.

Most of the people riding on the busy Highway 36 above this path are oblivious to the trail activity below them.

This boardwalk is crucial for protecting valuable wetlands on the Boulder Open Space.

This is the southwestern terminus of the trail. Roadside parking is available here, but it is limited.

The trail closely follows the creek for most of its length. Dogs particularly enjoy a good romp on the cool water after a warm hike.

Open Space lands are often shared by trail-users and cows. Keep in mind that this land wouldn't be available if it wasn't for agreements between the original land-owners and the open-space managers.
The cows were here before the trail was. Treat the cattle with respect. Do not interact with them or linger around them. Stay away from calves and try not to come between calves and full-grown cows. Be especially wary when using the trail during the spring calving season when there could be hundreds of calves on and near the trail.

This particular trail journey turned into an adventure.
As I was riding my bike, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye turned to see what I thought was two deer running through the field. Then I realized it was an animal chasing a deer. I assumed it was a coyote and continued with my picture-taking and bike riding.
Upon my return trip, I noticed a line of police cars and other vehicles with flashing lights lining South Boulder Road. It turns out they had a mountain lion caught up a tree. I then realized that it had been this mountain lion that was chasing the deer through the field. By the time I got there, it was getting dark and the police weren't allowing people to get very close (fortunately) to the treed mountain lion, so my pictures of the big cat didn't turn out very well.
However, this was a reminder that we share this trail with numerous wild and domestic critters. One particular goose was much more photogenic than the mountain lion.