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TRAIL CLOSED!
In December 1999, the Boulder County Commissioners voted unanimously
to close County Road 102J that runs parallel to James Creek up to Gold
Lake Ranch. This was in response to the high turbidity problem of James
Creek which is the sole drinking water source for the town of Jamestown.
The town had been unable to filter out the high turbidity levels and meet
state water quality standards for drinking water.
The gates are up and the road is legally closed. The residents of the
town are on watch for anyone destroying the gates and the Boulder County
sheriff's department is patrolling regularly for violators.
Send your comments or questions to:
Colleen Williams
Program manager for the James Creek Watershed Initiative
or
Mike Thomas
Boulder County Transportation
303-441-3900.
 A summary of the days events
on Gold Lake Road and Slaughterhouse Gulch- by Aaron Storm
:
Getting there: From Boulder we went a few miles N on 36W (28th street) to
some park on the right, where we turned L through some construction and on up
Lee Hill Rd(?) to Lefthand Canyon, but went past the LH Canyon turnoff to Jamestown,
where we turned L on
Ward Road. Almost immediately it turned into an easy 4x4 trail. We just kept right
on up that trail and took all the side trails possible. (Looking on the map,
Slaughterhouse Gulch is on the left.) Finally we went up to Nugget Hill, then down to Gold
Lake resort through the back way and on into Ward. Leaving Ward, we came back down LH
Canyon and took a couple of mining trails along the way for a cap to a fun day. We
left Boulder about 10am and arrived back in Boulder around 5:30 just before dark.
This is the best of my recollection, so it would be a good idea to have a good topo map
handy with all the little side trails marked with state numbers. We were both running
stock XJ's at that time, so the trails weren't too hard except for the iced over areas and
where Jon almost slid into an old mine shaft, but we should both be able to climb Nugget
Hill next time with a lift and larger tires.
THANKS AARON!
More Trail Photos!
Picture 1 |
Picture 2 |
Picture 3 |
Picture 4
You can get to the trails from either Ward or Jamestown.
From Ward, go north on highway [75] and take the turn off (across from a little
restaurant-bar) heading towards Gold Lake. Follow it until you come upon (and
through) the Gold Lake retreat. The trail starts here.
From Jamestown take Ward Road... it is that easy.
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