Length: 8.9 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 3248 ft
Difficulty: Hard
Trailhead: NCAR Trail Head
Family Friendly? Older kids, yes
Bear Peak is a popular peak that’s visible from Denver and Boulder and its trailhead is relatively easy to get to. It’s an excellent hike for those looking for something a little harder and more adventurous, but still has a well groomed trail and plenty of maps to navigate.
The route I’ll be talking about here is actually a loop that takes you up Fern Canyon and down Shadow Canyon. If you want a shorter day, just make it an out and back and come back down Fern Canyon. In my opinion it’s worth doing the loop if you have time and energy; both canyons are beautiful and have different sights to see.
Dogs must be on a leash at all times except for those that have a Voice and Sight Control Tag. Rangers do hike the trail fairly regularly and they will give you a hefty fine if you’re found in violation.
This trail is not recommended for small children as it’s a long day with a lot of elevation gain and rocky terrain. However, the very beginning of the hike has some beautiful easier trails that are great for all ages.
Fortunately, the trails on this route are well marked with trail signs, and some of them even have maps on them.
Start at the NCAR building and make your way up the Walter Orr Roberts Trail behind the building. You can meander to the right or left, both sides just run parallel to each other. Eventually you’ll veer left onto the NCAR trail and go down some rocky steps.
Continue following the NCAR trail signs until you hit a junction with Mallory Cave and Mesa Trail signs. Here you’ll go left onto the Mesa Trail. You’ll stay on the Mesa Trail, eventually turning right onto a larger, wider trail (still the Mesa Trail).
Eventually there will be a fork where you’ll stay left onto the Mesa Trail instead of continuing straight onto the Bear Canyon Trail.
Continue up this until you see the sign for the Fern Canyon Trail on the right. Turn onto this trail; now the elevation gain really begins. You’ll stay on this trail all the way until Bear Peak. It’ll be pretty consistently uphill the entire way; this is what makes the route rating difficult.
The very summit of Bear Peak is actually a scramble that gives some people vertigo. The scrambling isn’t actually that hard, but it can wig out people that aren’t used to it. If you do choose to go to the actual summit, you’ll have to come back down the way you went up in order to continue on to Shadow Canyon.
The summit of Bear Peak has excellent views of Denver and Boulder as well as high peaks to the West. You’ll be able to see Longs Peak, Mt. Audubon, Mt. Evans and even Pikes Peak to the south.
Scramble back down from the summit until you reach the sign that says Bear Peak Trail. Go left onto Bear Peak Trail and follow that south. In front of you is South Boulder Peak, which you can optionally summit as well. It’s a lovely peak and worth doing.
After a few minutes you’ll find yourself at a saddle between South Boulder Peak and Bear Peak with another trail sign pointing you towards Shadow Canyon. Turn left onto the Shadow Canyon Trail.
Much like the Fern Canyon, Shadow Canyon is steep. It’s actually even steeper than Fern Canyon, but a little bit shorter.
Near the bottom of the canyon you’ll reach a junction for Shadow Canyon North and Shadow Canyon South. Keep left on Shadow Canyon North. It’s still a few miles back to the trailhead; Shadow Canyon has deposited you pretty far south. Fortunately, though, the hiking from here is significantly easier than in the canyons.
Stay on Shadow Canyon North for quite a while. You’ll continually pass junctions with an option to turn right, but stay straight or left. At some point I think it actually turns into the Mesa Trail again, but in any case just keep going straight. Eventually it’ll spit you out back onto the big wide trail, and you’ll turn left and go down this trail.
This big wide trail is actually the same trail that you went up before you turned off onto Fern Canyon Trail, so yo should be able to just retrace your steps back to the NCAR Trailhead.
Directions to NCAR Trailhead
NCAR is a research facility that sits right outside of Boulder. The best way to get to the NCAR trailhead is to type “NCAR Trail Head”.
There are actually several trailheads from which you can start this hike, but I definitely recommend starting from NCAR because it has essentially endless parking. Other trailheads in Boulder might be full on a weekend, especially during peak hours of 8-12. Going to NCAR guarantees you’ll get a spot.
There’s also no parking fee for parking at NCAR, while other trailheads in Boulder require a fee for the day if you don’t have a Boulder county license plate.
