White Ranch is an open space park within the Jefferson County open space system and lies near Golden. It is a convenient snowshoe when Summit County is wracked by traffic or high winds. The park can be windswept itself, which tends to make the snowshoeing spotty depending on the trail. We went there over New Years when -32 degree wind chills wracked the high country. The winds were still unpleasant at White Ranch but presumably not as bad as it would have been higher up. We both wore facemasks after having our lips practically froze within the first 5 minutes. The park is a warren of trails that are not always identifiable when covered in snow.
We started from the farther parking lot and headed up to the bathrooms, which were open and then continued on the Longhorn trail for a total of about a half a mile to the junction of the Maverick Trail. This trail skirts the side of a hill for 0.9 miles and provides excellent views of Golden and Table Mountain. We were expecting to intersect with the Belcher Hill trail but after winding back towards the south we decided to bushwhack across the open meadow towards the parking lot. This took us right by a large farmstead that also serves as a ranger cabin. Dog owners beware here. The ranger has full view of the meadow and likes to sit and wait for owners who take advantage of the winter to let their dogs off leash.
This route was actually very short and covers only a small fraction of the trails in the park. We cut our trip short because of the winds and the lack of trail definition but the park has potential for bushwhacking on a nicer day.
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