Belmar Park, Lakewood Colorado; A great place to walk the dogs!

One of the lakes at Belmar Park

The warm weather this week has made it almost irresistible to not go outside and enjoy it!  But with severe cold temps, a significant amount of snow and now bright sun during the day and cold temperatures at night make for some muddy and icy trail conditions.  To keep yourself safe from falls on the ice, it's a great time to explore your local parks and trails in the metro area.  Belmar Park offers over 4 miles of trails for hikers, bikers and equestrian riders that wind around Kountze Lake over several hundred acres of land between Alameda and Mississippi near Wadsworth St. 


Getting there:  Belmar Park is located at 801 S. Wadsworth Blvd. Lakewood, CO.  Check out the Belmar Park website for more details.   There is also parking in the neighbornoods that surround the park; I entered the park this way.  From Alameda at Carr St in Lakewood; go south on Carr St. into a neighborhood with speed bumps; make a left turn at the first stop sign at West Virginia Ave; drive a few hundred yards as the road curves around and you will see the large Belmar Park sign on the right side of the road; you will enter the park at the northwestern corner.   Click here for google map that shows near intersection to park.

Start of trail; lighted path for night walking too

Specs:  The park has over 4 miles of easy paved or gravel trails, restrooms, playground area, access to Heritage Center, lots of benches and gazebo's for your family picnic or to stop and view the wildlife.  People  who live nearby walk there dogs here, so you will see lots of owners and doggies at anytime of the day.  Geese, ducks and water fowl are found in the park year round, but abundantly in the warm weather; you can also see coyotes and foxes in the park as well.  

The Park:  I didn't have a lot of time on Monday for a long hike, so I decided to head over to Belmar Park for a nice walk; I knew the park's trails were paved and would be plowed.  Sometimes its just nice to take a stroll in a park rather than a long hike; sans pack and boots.  The dogs were happy to get outside; and we drove to the neighborhood access, parked and start walking.  I have been to Belmar Park a few times in the summer for long walks around the lake, but it's been a few years and I had forgotten how many trails there are which look very different in the winter.  We started out toward the lakes on the paved trail, and eventually turned down the less travelled dirt (mud/ice) path so that the dogs could run a little more freely. 

I continued to explore the park on the trails less traveled and I immediately wished I had wore my hiking boots. 

The dogs and I just created our own little hike, over the bridges, around the lake, through the little woods; it was a lot of fun!  After about an hour and a half, we made it back to the car.  I have added some fun photos below if you'd like to look! 

I'd love to know of some other great parks in the west/metro area; if you know of any, please post a comment! 
Some places nearby to hike would be Green Mountain, and Mt. Falcon Park. 

Belmar Park Sign at Northwest corner of park

Playground area

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There are some trails in the trees that we explored! 

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Walking across one of the many bridges over the water in the park.

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Kountze Lake, Belmar Park

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Paved trails, blue skies!

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More of the lake, be careful to not let doggies onto the thin ice!

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Walked across this cool bridge; one of many in the park

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Views of the Front Range!

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Aspens in the winter