A trail recently opened on one of the Denver area’s most recognizable mountains ー and “history came alive.”

That was the word from Jefferson County Parks and Open Space in announcing T. rex Tooth Trail on South Table Mountain.

The trail runs 1 ½ miles along the southern rim of the mountain, providing a “critical” link for people on foot, bike and horse, explained Matt Robbins, Jeffco Open Space’s community connections director. 

From Golden Hills Road, Fossil Trail rises to meet T. rex Tooth Trail, which runs east to Cretaceous Trail, the summit path from the neighborhood on that side of the mountain. From that end of T. rex Tooth Trail, one could continue on Basalt Cap Loop and Old Quarry Trail, which returns west to Fossil Trail. (A map is posted at jeffco.us/1430/South-Table-Mountain-Park.)

“For the first time, we have a major connection between the two trails coming up, and we also have this 3-plus mile loop that navigates around South Table Mountain,” Robbins said. 

It’s 3-plus miles “packed with prehistoric and historic significance,” read Jeffco Open Space’s announcement. 

T. rex Tooth Trail is named for the tooth found in the vicinity in 1874 ー regarded as the first Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever recorded. The discovery was credited to Arthur Lakes, a professor at Colorado School of Mines and a central figure in the state’s “fossil rush” of the day. 

The new trail recalls another curious chapter: Between 1933 and 1935, Works Progress Administration crews built the Colorado Amphitheater ー the U-shaped set of stone seats and walls spanning a slope in view of the trail. 

An estimated 2,500 seats were built, according to the form placing the amphitheater in the National Register of Historic Places. The form counts it as one of four historic open-air amphitheaters in the state and the second-largest behind Red Rocks. 

The Colorado Amphitheater was built for personnel at nearby Camp George West and for the broader community, according to the National Register of Historic Places form. It continues: “Upon completion movies were shown at the Amphitheater every night during summer training for the Colorado National Guard. Boxing and wrestling matches were also held there as well as band concerts and Sunday sunrise services.”

While in view, the amphitheater remains off-limits as part of U.S. Department of Energy property. T. rex Tooth Trail was made possible with an easement from the department ー completing “a vision of ours for decades,” Robbins said. 

But a fair warning comes from that history compiled on the Colorado Amphitheater: “One factor causing its abandonment was the abundance of rattlesnakes that occupy the area. This caused movie watchers to bring forked sticks and pistols with them when attending functions in the Amphitheater.”

Rattlesnakes have indeed been reported along the new trail. 

“We have access to this portion of land that otherwise hadn’t been utilized, and there is a presence of rattlesnakes,” Robbins said. “It’s signed, asking you to stay on the trail and be aware.”