This probably looks like a dry meadow, but it's actually the top of Green Mountain, and the surrounding land is hidden from view. A bike is visible just above middle right:
In this zoom shot, the lighter band in the middle is actually the top of South Table Mountain about 3 miles away. The slanted street in the middle upper right is Quaker, in Arvada. That female rider totally dropped me, I never saw her after this.
All I have to say is, that trail is ROUGH. Nothing but embedded rocks the entire way. You can see some of them in the foreground.
However, when the flowers are blooming in June or so, this trail is beautiful. Flowers of every color are scattered in the grass like gems.
Later, when I stopped at the bottom near the Rooney Road parking lot on the west side, Patrick Garcia ran through and I recognized him and said hi. Never met him before. Welcome to the 'hood, man. With some of the runners around here, this is becoming 'Boulder South'. Well, almost. The hills aren't as big.
This grunt of a climb out of a ravine occurs just west of the Utah parking lot. I've always hated this climb, because my route always places it at the end. I just put it in granny gear and pedaled away. It was OK:
I rode back home on streets on the east side because I didn't want to climb to the very top again. Nonetheless, I cut through open space one more time before riding home. A nice little ride overall.
Distance was 20.86 miles, time 2:46 (moving 2:23), elevation gain/loss 1,821 feet, avg. speed 7.5 mph, and max speed 25.9 mph.
