Plymouth Creek to Meadowlark Trail

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Plymouth Creek to Meadowlark Trail

20 Jun

Plymouth Creek to Meadowlark Trail, Deer Creek Canyon Park, Littleton, CO

Parking: 13896 Grizzly Drive, Littleton (the parking lot is huge and there are restrooms at the trailhead)
Distance: 2.7 miles (Loop by joining the two trails)
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Wildlife: none this day, except for a fuzzy caterpillar (though the Plymouth Mountain trail was closed this day because of a mountain lion spotting!)
Day hiked: May 28, 2012

This trail wasn’t our first choice, but the trail we had originally picked out had a very full parking lot. Since I had done this trail before, and it was close by, we decided to give it a try. It was a little longer (and a little more uphill) than I had intended, but it turned out fine. We did this hike on Memorial Day and it was packed! The parking lot was almost full and the trails were crowded.

Start at the main trailhead and follow the signs for the Plymouth Creek Trail. The first part of this trail is all uphill. It isn’t a very steep climb, but it’s pretty steady. I started to stress that the boys weren’t going to be able to make it, but knowing my boys speak “video game” I suggested they turn it into one! “If you can make it to that tall tree, you level up!”, “Watch out for tree stumps, they take away your health!” Unbelievably, this worked, and the boys found the energy to make it to the top!

This is a really beautiful hike, with lots of wildflowers and wonderful views of the red rocks of Colorado. I’ve been on this hike before where the creek was running so there were lots of little (I said little!) waterfalls. Unfortunately, Colorado has been very dry, so the creek was nothing but a trickle.

The area where Plymouth Creek Trail meets up with the Meadowlark Trail (at 1.1 miles) is particularly beautiful and shaded. Cross the bridge to join the HIKER ONLY Meadowlark Trail. This part of the trail really rejuvenated the boys! I think they enjoyed looking down on the hikers below us and seeing how far they had come, and running ahead on the trail to see what was around the next bend. (Or maybe they were still playing video games in their mind!) Once you are on Meadowlark, there is a little bit of a climb, but then it levels out and begins to descend back down to the parking lot. You’ll great some great views of downtown Denver from this part of the trail.

Finding a shady spot to eat lunch was pretty difficult, but no one (except the dog!) seemed to mind. The boys enjoyed this hike so much, that we weren’t even in our car before they were asking where the next hike was going to be! Success!