North Table - Tilting Mesa - Mesa Top Loop - 3.2 Miles Round-Trip

North Table Mountain Park is located on the east side of Highway 93 in Golden, Colorado. The Park encompasses 2,000 acres of a large mesa complex that rises 500' from the open plains to a sprawling mixed grass prairie on top.

The mesa's core was formed by lava flows that emanated from the Ralston Dike two miles away. Sedimentary deposits that once covered this hardened lava have eroded, resulting in the steep-sided formation we see today.

Table Mountain's grasslands support a variety of wildlife including deer, coyote, rabbit, prairie dog, and rattlesnake, while golden eagles, hawks, and falcons nest in vertical cliffs along the mesa's rim. Spring-fed ponds draw waterfowl, and serve as headwaters for riparian corridors that underpin the mountain's ecosystem.

A network of multi-use trails circle Table Mountain and connect through its elevated grasslands. The North Table Trail, Tilting Mesa Trail, and Mesa Top Trail form a short loop from base to top, exposing visitors to the area's distinct ecological and geological features.

The following description begins on the south side of the parking lot and travels counter-clockwise on the North Table Loop Trail:

The North Table Loop Trail climbs steeply on wide rough pour to the mesa top and Tilting Mesa Trail split (.6 miles : 6,478'). Examine folds in the upper cliff walls and look for raptors before veering left on the Tilting Mesa Trail, which ventures east along the mesa top.

The Tilting Mesa levels through rolling short grass prairie dotted with cacti, yucca, cattail, yarrow, and a variety of wildflowers. It wraps north around a small pond (1.1 miles : 6,445'), one of several on Table Mountain that attract waterfowl and song birds. Bypass a spur for the Rim Rock Trail (1.55 miles) before seamlessly merging onto the Mesa Top Trail (1.7 miles : 6,485').

The Mesa Top Trail skirts the edge of a much larger pond and edges toward another near a second Rim Rock Trail access spur (1.7 miles : 6,485'). Here it crests and drops back a second connection with the North Table Loop Trail (2.3 miles : 6,085'). The North Table Loop Trail curls southwest on a moderately steep grade down to the mesa's base, where it levels through open space back to the trailhead (3.2 miles : 6,030').