Trailhead / Access

Access to Ute Valley Park is from Vindicator Drive. Exit I-25 at Rockrimmon or Woodmen Rd and follow Rockrimmon Blvd from either exit. At the Safeway shopping center, the light is Vindicator. Turn west and take it about 1 mile. There will be a parking lot to the south side of the street. The trail head starts at this parking lot, just west of the school. During busy times, the school parking lot can be utilized during off school hours.

Trail Summary

There are numerous trails in the Park but I like to think of it as a large loop with several cutoffs and side trails. The loop follows the ridge running east from the parking lot, picks up another east/west ridge then returns on a north/south ridge. There is also a major trail that runs up the center of the loop.

These trails are moderate, with some climbs but nothing too steep. A couple of places are rocky and there is some sandy spots especally in the valley. Some of the trail crosses from the park onto property belonging to HP so please respect the property.

Course 1 - 3.75 miles

Course 1 goes from the parking lot south and to the right of the hill towards the north-south spline along the west border of the park. About a quarter of mile, there is a trail branching to the left with a sign indicting no bikes and some rocks to block the trail. Generally there are a row of rocks to help define this as a no-bike area.

The trail procedes to a valley where you want to run down the valley a short ways til you see a trail going to the right (it actually has two trails but they join up the hill. Take either trail up until you crest the trail then take the left fork of the trail that crosses. This will take you east for about a mile. This section climbs gradually then takes a steeper decent back down to the valley at the far eastern end.

When you reach the valley, go left and follow the trail/road until you have reached the point you went up at and go back up this trail to the cross trail, this time taking a right. This is a rocky trail and climbs up to the western park boundry where it dead ends into a north/south trail.

Go left and follow the trail for about a third of a mile. There is a point where the trail joins a road straight and to the right but there is a trail to the left. Take the trail down to the meadow. Here you will go left on the trail that you have been on twice before and proceed back to the valley. From here you are back tracking your first mile back to the parking lot. There are some variations here that if you have time you can explore. You can see from the map I varied a little coming out of the valley to go through an area that has a neat rock arch.