Lakewood, CO – Green Mountain, the closest foothill mountain to the Denver Metro area, was a ghost mountain when I rode my bike up the sometimes-smooth and sometimes-rocky single track last Sunday afternoon. Apparently, it’s a backyard, not a destination. Hardly a soul did I see.

It is rare to have a mountain to oneself, and Big Green gets plenty of traffic on weekday evenings—the after-work crowd. The supposition is, those of us who visit her on the evenings venture deeper into the range of options on a weekend.

But I was struck by her lack of crowd. In contrast, when I biked Golden’s South Table a couple of weeks ago, I encountered 10-fold more bikers than a typical afternoon on Big Green.

Perhaps the trails are a bit more challenging to the average or new biker; perhaps the elevation gain is a bit higher than folks are looking for. Maybe reports of rattlesnakes (legit) and mountain lions (probably true?) keep people away. Possibly, folks on Sunday were already on the hunt for Fall foliage.

Whatever the case, this beautiful mesa is there for the taking, and you will never feel like it’s overcrowded.

From the 6,854-foot summit, one can see Pikes Peak to the south, Mt. Evans due west, and Longs Peak to the north. And oh yeah, the Mile High City scape. It’s an amazing view that is offered at the peak of what is officially called William Fredrick Hayden Park.

At the top, you also look directly at Lookout Mountain, Mt. Zion, Hog’s Back, Dinosaur Ridge, C-470, Solterra, Morrison, Golden, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Lakewood, Arvada, Englewood, Lowry, DIA and Colorado Springs. Basically, you look upon everything Denver Metro has to offer.

There are numerous trails — some named, some not. The Summit Loop trail encircles the upper ring of the mountain—and it’s a lot of fun on a bike. The Rooney Valley Trail begins on the Lakewood side of the mountain and provides a solid cardio workout. Various trails from the Golden side of the mountain ascend from various neighborhoods.

Box o’ Rox trail is perhaps the most difficult, akin to riding on a giant’s box of spilled marbles.

Many people park at the Rooney Road lot (off the Alameda Exit on C-470) and climb the firetruck road to the top. There’s a mid-mountain trail pretty much the entire way around, and the aforementioned upper-rim trail that pretty much does the same.

I don’t encounter all that many pure hikers on these trails—the crowd mainly consists of trail runners, dog-walkers and mountain bikers. There are also no trees, just shrubs.

Not seen are many families as a group, but seen are plenty of parents, and also some seriously badass teens. Too, a sprinkling of biking bros and their female counterparts as well, armed with open music and spiffy yet uninvolved outfits.

Also, there were elk. They scared me. I interested them (most likely, as food).

I’ve seen two fires on this mountain. One seven years ago from my house, looking up at the north side of the mountain. I worried about the wealthy people in mountain-side mini-mansions, and mansions, above me as the flames somehow came DOWN the mountain.

The second was a table-top fire on the north-to-south angle, so that I could see it burning from my exquisite mountain-view office at ACC on a late Tuesday night after I had wrapped up another amazingly interesting 3-hour ENG 121 class at 8:15pm. I saw the emergency lights as well.

Area fire crews crushed both threats in timely fashion and with much effort.

There she is, Green Mountain—a backyard for some and the mountain you drive around without even thinking about it as a mountain for others.

But the elk have taken notice.

Get on up there.