More riding!

On Monday Boulder County finally opened the much anticipated Picture Rock trail linking Heil Ranch with Lyons. Due to my new work circumstances; I was able to go to the grand opening, ride it Tuesday afternoon and on Thursday.
It was hard to get a feel for the trail on the grand opening due to the huge turn out of mountain bikers. The trail was packed and was hard to get the flow of the trail. Tuesday night was better because we were able to ride faster. I was still feeling like I just needed to get on the trail by myself to fully experience what it had to offer.
Thursday was the ticket, Ab had a few errands to run with the kids and that gave me about 2.5 hours to get out. I started at the parking lot by the black bear hole on the st. vrain. I saw three other cars with bike racks. This will be the likely starting point for anyone that drives into Lyons to ride this trail. If you haven't heard, there is a massive and emotional controversy on where the trail head should be. They still haven't made a definitive decision on where the parking lot should be. Anyhoo, I started there and rode through Bohn park on a social trail to the Picture Rock Trail.
The trail starts relatively smooth and rolls in and out of small ravines and up through the scrub brush:

After a couple miles you start going into a more forested area with ponderosa pines and cedar bushes:
In the middle of the trail you come upon a silo and an old rock quarry. Supposedly most all of the sandstone used to make the University of Colorado campus came from this area:
This is where the trail changes from a semi smooth rolling trail to a more rocky semi-technical trail. You pass plenty of old sandstone structures. Many of them look like they were built yesterday.

There's even some old shot up cars along the way. Note the big flat sandstone surface.

Below is the "Great Wall of Heil". Apparently this is what took the most time to build this trail.
I rode the 5.5 miles up Picture Rock took a left o Wild Turkey and rode the Ponderosa around to the other end of Wild Turkey and back down Picture Rock (trail map and bma newsletter).
Looking toward Hall Ranch
The Route:

The Picture Rock trail is a great (Epic!) addition to the riding around Lyons. I do think that this trail is a bit more technical than people may have been expecting. The section between the silo and Wild Turkey intersection is rocky and you definitely need to watch your lines. I looked down at my gps for a second and next thing knew I was over my bars and on my ass in a pile of rocks. A bruised knee and skinned elbow is all I got. I'm looking forward to riding this trail a lot and eventually connecting it to more trails in Left Hand Canyon and beyond.