Meyer Ranch Park Colorado Hike Guide
Meyer Ranch Park is an open space park located in Conifer, Colorado. The park was previously a working ranch (hence its name) but now offers over 600 acres and 4.2 miles of trails. The park has hiking for all levels and is great for year-round hiking. Trail conditions are generally packed dirt, so Meyer Ranch Park can get muddy in the spring and winter. Meyer Ranch Park is also a popular spot for locals to go sledding after a big snow storm.
Meyer Ranch Park Quick Facts
Meyer Ranch Park Rating: ★★★ (⅗ Stars)
Distance: 5.11 miles RT
Elevation Start: 7,851 ft
Summit: 9,043 ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 2-2.5 Hours RT
Difficulty: Walk in the Park – Easy What does this mean?
Season: Year Round (Expect Snow/Ice December – March)
Directions to Meyer Ranch Park
Getting Here: From Denver or points west, take 285 to South Turkey Creek Road. Once you exit the highway, take a right to pass underneath the highway and you will drive right into the parking area. You can enter Meyer Ranch Park into your favorite navigational device.
Fees: None
Parking: Meyer Ranch Park offers free parking in a lot that can fit about 30 cars. This area is fairly popular, but if the main lot is ever full, there is additional parking under the 285 overpass. If you have a larger vehicle, that is probably the best place to park.
Summary
Dogs: Meyer Ranch Park is dog friendly and is a great spot to bring one. If you are visiting during winter months, be prepared for some muddy paws/underbelly. If your dog likes to eat/sniff poop (raises hand), be aware that horses are allowed on these trails.
Camping: Camping is not allowed at Meyer Ranch Park, seek alternative options.
Make it a Loop: Meyer Ranch Park has a variety of small or large loops to make. My personal favorite, is to head up to Legault Mountain and take the Old Ski Run trail back down to the parking area. View a complete park map here.
Park X Factors: In my opinion, the biggest X Factor at the park are the trails itself. Condition-wise, since they are mostly packed dirt, they can easily be a muddy mess in spring and winter months after a storm. If you are hiking the trails, traction could be an issue. On the other hand, when you hike south into the park, most of the trails are uphill. In other words, you will probably have a hike that involves a lot of uphill one way and a lot of downhill the other. Since most of the trails in the park are relatively short, this is not a huge issue, but something worth mentioning.
Mick’s Tip: Meyer Ranch Park is nice on a couple of fronts:
- Its close to the Denver Area
- It’s not extremely crowded
- Its terrain is much different than that of other parks in Morrison, Lakewood and Golden.
Without a doubt though, my favorite part of the is Legault Mountain. The mountain is not technically located in Meyers Ranch Park, but offers a nice scramble up to the top and fantastic views of the foothills and Mt Evans Wilderness. I highly recommend taking the unmarked side trail at the top of the Old Ski Run trail to hike up to Legault Mountain (see above GPS for exactly where to go).
Best Views: Without a doubt, the best views in Meyers Ranch Park are on the Old Ski Run trail and from Legault Mountain. On a clear day, you are able to see Mt Evans and many of the other mountains in the distance from the summit of Legault Mountain. The grassy fields at the start of the park are a nice spot to snap some portraits as well.
Meyer Ranch Hike Route
Shows a hike to the park’s high point: Legault Mountain.
Gear Needed
- Men’s Trail Runners
- Women’s Trail Runners
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Booths (Women’s)
- Backpack
- Food & Water
- Optional: Garmin inReach
- Optional: Hiking Poles
- Optional: Headlamp
- Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
- Optional: Camera and Lens
- Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
- *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you
Our Trip Meyer Ranch Park: February 2017
Winter is always a weird time of year for me. I love to hike year-round but when there are 10+ feet of snow in most high elevation areas of the state, standard hiking conditions are not exactly easy to find. In past years, I would generally tackle a couple of winter hikes, snowboard as much as I can and patiently wait for summer. However, with the addition of a certain furry companion, I have found myself constantly expanding my search for year-round hikes. Meet Meyer Ranch Park. On my drives to other hikes in western and southern parts of the state, I have probably driven by Meyer Ranch Park a hundred times and always thought, “I should check that out sometime.” That day finally arrived in early February 2017 when Juno, Jackie and I headed out to Conifer, Colorado.
We arrived at the park in early afternoon and were 1 of about 15 cars in the parking area. I was completely unfamiliar with Meyer Ranch, so I decided to check out the park map before we started our expedition. I picked our route (the longest loop possible in hopes to wear out Juno) and we started walking up into the trees.
We started on the Lodgepole Loop and continued on towards the Sunny Aspen trail. The trail worked its way up the small hills, slowly winding towards the top. Even though we were in the heart of winter, there was only a trace of snow on the ground, but there was lots of mud. It seemed that Juno’s goal was to collect as much of that mud on her stomach and paws and bring it home to play with later. Goal achieved. We continued n Sunny Aspen trail for a while longer and eventually reached a small gazebo and picnic area that marked the start of the Old Ski Run Trail.
We continued up the hill and after a bit more winding through the trees, reached a large rocky area. I hoped that this would be a cool spot to snap some photos of the neighboring foothills and mountains in the distance. A storm was rolling in, so clouds covered most of the area and prevented any excellent photo opportunities from happening. It was still a cool area to take a water break and enjoy a snack.
After leaving the rocky area, we reached the top of the hill and I noticed a small unmarked trail to the left. Jackie hesitated at first, but I was convinced that it lead to the rocky mountaintop in the distance and wanted to check it out. We were both glad we did because after about 10-15 minutes of hiking up-hill, we reached the summit of Legault Mountain. Up to this point, Meyers Ranch Park was blah.com for me, but this rocky mountain top completely changed my opinion of the hike. The views were great and there was even an opportunity to do some rock scrambling on class 4 or 5 terrain if we wanted to. We tried snapping some family pictures from the summit, but Juno had other things are her mind. She is always ruining everything.
The storm we had seen earlier in the hike was getting closer and the hour was getting late, so we worked our way back towards the Old Ski Run trail and back towards the beginning of the park. Besides more mud and a handful of additional hikers, the hike back to the car was very uneventful and much quicker than the hike up.
Meyers Ranch Park is a nice spot and one I will certainly revisit. If you live in Denver and are looking for a spot to bring friends/family, that is not hours away, but still offers mountain views, Meyers Ranch Park is your place. The park does not have miles and miles of trails or terribly taxing terrain, but not every hike has to be a 20+ miler with poop your pants steepness.
