Off the Beaten Bike Path

BOULDER

Ride: 6 miles round-trip
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: An easy challenge

A lot of people aren’t even aware that Wonderland Lake exists, let alone know that there’s a whole trail system webbing its way around the area. But take note: just because you aren’t a north Boulderite doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on this fun ride and its epic views.

From Foothills Community Park go south on 9th Street and west on Utica to meet up with the Wonderland Lake Trail. It curves south to outline the lake and bring you close to rolling foothills. Cattails and long grasses brush up next to the path that’s entirely paved, and if it’s a breezy day you’ll be treated to interesting scents wafting across the water. After such a leisurely start, make sure you’re mentally prepared for the path to quickly climb up in a sprint that gains about 150 feet in just under a mile. Pause at the top to congratulate yourself on the hill you just tackled and to admire vistas of the front range that open up here.

Ride your brakes on the descent down to Wonderland Hill Avenue, where the path mellows out as it passes over small slopes of residential streets before getting back onto the Wonderland Trail.

Go east across the Silver Lake Ditch and up north along Broadway (watch for traffic of the motor vehicle kind in this bit), and curve left as the trail saunters northwest on its approach back towards the lake. Stay left at the fork—actually, the next two forks—and bear with the trail as the last uphill segment is a bit of a leg-burner, running parallel to the foothills. If it’s a nice day out, you’re likely to see paragliders swooping down for a landing along the grassy fields that surround you here. Stop to watch them, or continue winding your way around Foothills Community Park.

Pit Stop: Rather than heading back right away, turn south on Broadway and east on Iris for a 2.5 mile extension that will take you to Tangerine restaurant for a much-deserved brunch. (You can burn off the Eggs Benedict and Bloody Marys on the return ride.)