Hiking Gold Star Canyon to Liberty Cap, Colorado

Gold Star Canyon to Liberty Cap

Location: Colorado National Monument north side, just south of Redlands, CO
Access: From Colorado National Monument, head east from Rimrock Rd on Broadway for 2.9 miles, then south on South Broadway for 0.8 miles to the unsigned Goldstar Canyon TH on the south side of the road with a break in the fence. Park in the gravel pullout.
Fees: None
Trailhead: Goldstar Canyon TH = UTM NAD83 z12 699777e 4329391n (On the Park map, this is shown as an access gate near White Rocks off S Broadway)
Map: USGS 7.5’ quad Colorado National Monument or the NPS Park Map
Route described: 7.6 miles, 1,152’ elevation gain
Weather: Forecast

June 4, 2015
Improbably cloudy for the dry month of June, we nevertheless dropped off Jim’s truck at the Wildwood Trailhead (NAD83 z12 702418e 4326934n), then shuttled 2.8 miles by road to a nameless, unsigned trailhead on the side of S Broadway where a break in the fence allows pedestrian access to the monument. At 9:30 we were hiking northwest just inside the tall fence of Colorado National Monument, passing through scattered single leaf ash, juniper, mountain mahogany, serviceberry and ricegrass, heading steadily uphill about 400 feet to the bench that we’d follow most of the rest of the hike (on the park map, this area is bluntly labeled as “The Bench”). As the trail took a sharp south turn, we walked off the trail to the north a few dozen yards to look down into Monument Canyon from a point near Mushroom Rock.

We resumed walking south, passing into Gold Star Canyon, a large box canyon with plenty of large juniper, all covered in berries, and continued south at more or less the same elevation for about 3 miles, following the trail as it deviated twice westward into smaller box canyons, one of which provided a nice trailside shady spot where we sat and ate lunch. The sun came out for most of this stretch, though clouds threatened on the horizon.

By 1:00 we reached the junction of the Liberty Cap Tr, and decided to head uphill to check it out. In half a mile we ascended 400 feet to Liberty Cap, where a steady sprinkling caused us to don rain jackets. Liberty Cap is an interesting sandstone knob that is visible from the city. I snapped a few photographs as the veil of rain raced our way, then we found a deep alcove nearby in which to shelter while sheets of rain lashed the sandstone walls around us. I was in a good, dry spot until water running down the wall above started holding on to the wall as it curved inward over my head, into the alcove. Soon it was dripping right on me, so I had to move to a new spot. The rain didn’t last long, though, and within 20 minutes were were hiking back down a sodden, slippery trail to the truck, which we reached at 3:30

Monument Canyon