P.O. Box 822 Golden, Colorado, 80402
South Table Mountain open space/lubahn trail
Introduction
The City of Golden owns 26.5 acres on the western slope of South Table Mountain. This acreage, along with adjoining Jefferson County Open Space land creates a striking scenic backdrop for the Golden community. The City’s open space area includes the city’s 2.5-mile long Lubahn Trail loop, which provides views overlooking the Golden Valley.
This discussion includes references to maps that can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.
more about south table mountain and the lubahn trail
There are two access points. The Lubahn Trailhead is at the end of 18th Street on Belvedere Dr. There is very limited parking. Nearby at the end of 19th Street is the Jefferson County Open Space Olivine Trail that leads to over thirteen miles of connecting trails on South Table Mountain. Near the top of South Table Mountain, Lubahn Trail users can choose to connect with the Olivine Trail or return to Belvedere Drive on the Lubahn Trail. (1)
The Lubahn Trail is rated moderately difficult with sloping switchbacks and an elevation gain of about four hundred feet from base to the volcanic clefts. From the trail, there are views of the well-recognized 6,338 foot high “Castle Rock”. With the assistance of Jefferson County Open Space trail staff, the original Lubahn Trail was reconstructed in the early 2020’s to its current configuration to reduce erosion and provide a better trail experience. It is recommended that hikers take a bottle of water, wear hiking footwear and plan for an hour round trip. Castle Rock land is private property so please do not trespass.
Residents report occasional sightings of mountain lions, deer, coyotes, and rattle snakes. Birders also report various local species.
Back 66.5 to 65.9 million years ago, in what today is the Golden Valley, four separate flows of basalt arose from a volcanic vent system at Ralston Dike located about two miles northwest of North Table Mountain. In little over a million and half years, these lava flows covered the thick layer of small sedimentary rocks that were mixed with ancient volcanic rocks and washed into the existing rivers and streams beds.
The four volcanic flows formed a large plateau that nearly reached the top of Green Mountain. Over millions of years, water carried off the sedimentary rocks spreading them across the Denver Front Range and as far away as DIA airport.
The hard basalt held firm and covered sedimentary rocks (referred to as the Denver Formation) and river deposits from rivers that formed channels adjoining floodplains. These floodplains were vegetated with palm trees and broad leaved deciduous tropical species. Today, what is known as “Castle Rock” is the hard basalt caprock from flow number 4 and just below that can be seen the basalt from flow 3.
Most of the Lubahn Trail is on the loose sedimentary rocks, hence the requirement for regular trail maintenance. Erosion continues to shape South Table Mountain. Going from the trailhead to the top of the mesa, a trail user covers 100,000 years of geological time from about from 66.00 million years to 65.9 million years ago.
Hiking the Lubahn Trail, users pass through the asteroid-impact boundary that killed the dinosaurs. This is referred to in the past as the “K-T boundary” but today known as the KPg boundary (Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary). The boundary location, formally identified but not marked on the trail, is near the lower switchbacks on the trail. (2)
The ancient geological process of the past provides residents and visitors alike with scenic views today of Castle Rock and the South and North Table Mountains which help to define Golden.
In the 19th century the disciplines of geology and paleontology were still evolving. From 1874 to 1890, Professor Arthur Lakes, the first professor of geology at the Colorado School of Mines and regarded as the “father of geology” in Colorado, commonly took his students to South Table Mountain to look for fossil leaves. These included palm fronds, and mammal bones in the sedimentary beds below the lava flows. It is quite possible that one of the informal trails created over the years by Professor Lakes and his students to get to the top of the mesa, was the one that many decades later Professor Lubahn followed to cut his easier to use trail to the top.
In 1874, on one of the trips to the top, a student of Professor Lakes was working in the area near today’s Rimrock Drive. In his search for fossils, he found the first T. Rex tooth in North America. Prof Lakes sent the tooth to Prof Marsh at Yale, one of the top paleontologists at the time, who put it in the basement of the growing museum at Yale. The tooth lay unrecognized until the late 1900’s, when Ken Carpenter at the Dener Museum re-discovered it, realized its importance, and brought it to the attention of the paleontology community. A model of the tooth is displayed at the Golden History Museum.
The T. Rex tooth was found below the K-Pg boundary that was created when a meteorite killed the dinosaurs. This boundary is likely located just below the base of the buried water tank on the south slope of South Table Mountain. (3)
No plant inventory has been done specifically on city owned South Table Mountain Open Space, but plant identification has been done near the Lubahn Trail and in this general area of South Table Mountain. Those present include: Roundleaf Snowberry, Foothill Death Camas, Net-Leaved Hackberry, Stemless Indian Parsley, Western Prickly Pear, Asparagus, Four-Wing Saltbush, and Sand dune Wallflower.
Click here to see Tom Schweich's complete plant list for South Table Mountain.
South Table Mountain and Castle Rock have colorful and extensive histories available elsewhere. There were once multiple trail routes to the top. In the 1870’s through the 1880’s, Professor Arthur Lakes from the School of Mines would take his students up to the top of South Table Mountain for fossil collecting. Many decades later, Professor Jack Lubahn would build his well-known trail following a much older “rudimentary steep trail” which well may have been the one that was established by Prof Lakes. (4)
In 1965, Jack Lubahn and his wife, Harriet, and their four children, moved to a newly built house on the corner of 19th Street and Table Drive. A short distance away, Jack found an old, rudimentary steep trail leading up towards Castle Rock. Each morning, starting at 6:30 A.M., he would head out with a pick, shovel, block and tackle and his dog to work on the trail for an hour. Then he would clean up and be at the School of Mines by 8:30 am. The trail took six years to finish and was completed in 1971. To build the switchbacks Jack was required to move boulders weighing up to two tons using only his block and tackle. The large rock retaining wall on the trail still stands as a tribute to his efforts for all to enjoy. (5)
(1) Lubahn Trailhead Map (download at bottom of page)
All Trails website, “Olivine Trail Loop” at https://www.alltrails.com/ar/trail/us/colorado/olivine-trail-loop
(2) Anderson, Donna S., and Paul B Haseman (2021), Golden Rocks: The Geology and Mining History of Golden, Colorado, plus additional material provided by Donna Anderson.
(3) Correspondence with Donna Anderson (2024)
(4) Correspondence with Donna Anderson (2024)
(5) Preston Driggers. Selected Golden Transcript articles.
Photo Gallery
Cap Rock with flow lines
Downloads
See Stewards’ "Golden Open Space Map" and Map Index downloads below.
The above discussion includes the following locations on the map:
South Table Mountain Open Space - number 31 on map and index
7 parcels and approximately 26.5 acres
Copyright © 2019 Stewards of Golden Open Space - All Rights Reserved.