Took a ride through a Cattle Ranch towards the Flatirons

So I decided that after a disappointing ride up a local connector trail at Coal Creek I would try the way I had originally wanted to go and head north towards Superior. the first ascent was much more enjoyable as there were plenty of switchbacks rather than a straight up the side of the hill climb.

Here you can see the parking area down on the left:

After I made crested the hill I rode through a large high plain where there was nothing but wide open spaces and the sky seemed to go on forever

From the plains I dropped down past some businesses and a shopping mall and happened across some of the cows that roam the ranch, I attempted to get their attention by mooing because I was convinced that would work? They seemed unmotivated so I pressed on.

After a brief section of some downhill single track through some very tall purple flowers I continued on through some rolling hills, dodging cow patties and prairie dogs (tons of those things).  I rounded a hill and the Flatirons came into view. The trail you see on the left is decently high up on the hill so it gives you a great view towards the flatirons and the very southern edge of the city of Boulder.

I came across another section of the canal and I noticed it was headed towards something around the corner. Luckily there was a trail that followed alongside the canal so I took a detour and rode right up to Marshall Lake.  Took a few minutes to enjoy the scenery and headed off onto my original trail.

On the other side of the lake I hit Hwy 93 where I had to cross to pick up another trail and complete the loop around the lake and the ranch. However, it is apparently some sort of special bird season and the trail I needed to get back to the truck was closed for another two weeks, locked gate and everything. Unfortunately that section of the hwy lacks any sort of shoulder let alone a bike lane, so with the goal of not ending up as street pizza ,I doubled back.

About two miles from the end of my journey I came to one of many bridges that crosses the canal in the ranch. The group of cows that I had made attempts to communicate with seemed intent on stopping all bike traffic across said bridge. about five minutes went by and a dozen or so bikers had piled up on either side not quite sure what to do. Eventually myself and another guy decided that they were just "pre-hamburgers" and were probably more afraid of us than we were of them (again, probably). So we slowly moved forward hollering " HAAA C'MON COWS!  HAA!!!"  After some mooing, the cows eventually moved out of the way, but it was more of a " I'm doing it because I feel like it, not because you're asking me" look they gave us. the cows gave us all enough space to move on by and carry about our rides.  

On my final climb back to the truck I came across yest another group of cows, this one had taken up rest on either side of the trail, so after making a ground beef joke (dad) and getting no response form the cows I just laughed to myself and told them they were missing out, and I made the final push back to the truck.