Trail

Niwot Loop Trail

The flat Boulder County loop around the edge of town, from the trailhead on 79th Street, joined to the LoBo Trail.

The gravel path leading away from the Niwot trailhead, flat and open between the fields — Photo: Boulder County Parks & Open Space

A flat, easy loop on Boulder County trails around the edge of town, starting from the county’s Niwot Loop Trailhead on 79th Street south of Niwot Road. It links to the LoBo Regional Trail and crosses the open fields east of the built-up blocks. The county’s Niwot trails map shows the connections. (The Niwot Trot 5K, which used these trails for years, has run a different course through downtown since 2024.)

The County rates all seven named Niwot trails easy, so the choice is length: Niwot Hills 0.6 miles, Cougar 0.8, 95th Street 1.0, Somerset 1.1, Overbrook 1.3, and Hidden Star and the Legend Ridge Loop 1.5 each; some marked sections of Hidden Star are closed to horses. Dogs are allowed on all seven, on a leash. Three trailheads serve them: Niwot Loop, Lefthand Valley Grange (the one with a restroom and a group shelter) and Monarch. Trailheads close at sunset and parking is not allowed overnight, though the regional trails that pass through, the LoBo among them, stay open to commuters around the clock. Rated easy is the County’s word for grade and surface, not a promise that a route is step-free or stroller-friendly.

At a glance walking · running · dogs · easy

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Address: Niwot Loop Trailhead, N 79th Street between Somerset Trail and Mineral Road · Trail network
Directions: Open in Google Maps
Hours: Open daily, sunrise to sunset
Website: bouldercounty.gov

Before you go

Parking: 13 car spaces and one van-accessible space at the Niwot Loop trailhead; 30 at the Lefthand Valley Grange trailhead, with two van-accessible spaces, a restroom and a 50-person group shelter; 10 at the Monarch trailhead, with one horse-trailer space. No parking between sunset and sunrise.
Closures: The County says the Lefthand Valley Grange shelter will close for repairs in October; the start date and how long are not yet published.

Boulder County Niwot trails page The land manager’s own page; we link it rather than repeat it.

Access notes checked October 13, 2026 against bouldercounty.gov.

Checked October 13, 2026 against bouldercounty.gov. Hours and phone numbers change fastest, so the business’s own page is the record. Report a correction · Know something opening or closing? Tell us

In the guides

Read about Niwot Loop Trail

Niwot with kids: a playground, a caboose, ice cream and a flat loop
Everything in Niwot a family can do on foot from Second Avenue, and the two places a short drive away, with what each is actually like.
Explore Niwot: four places in walking order
Old Town first, then Cottonwood Square, then whatever the weather allows. The whole loop is under two miles, and you only park once.

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