If you walk the loop around Big Soda Lake on a September morning, you have probably already crossed paths with a race number or two. Lakewood's own trail series has been quietly running through the park all month, and if you did not know it was happening, that is sort of the point. It is small, it is free to watch, and it does not ask you to change your plans.
October 3 and 4 are a different story.
That weekend, Bear Creek Lake Park hosts The Bear Chase, a two-day trail running festival organized by Aravaipa Running that pulls in ultramarathoners from across the region. It is the same park, the same trails you use for a Tuesday jog or a Sunday bike ride with the kids, but for those 48 hours the rules of using it change in ways that catch regulars off guard nearly every year.
The Quiet Series You Might Have Missed
The City of Lakewood runs its own Trail Running Series at Bear Creek Lake Park every September, a low-key weekly event that lets local runners sample different routes through the park's terrain. It is the kind of thing that shows up on a handful of race calendars and not much else. No road closures, no beach lot overflow, no need to think twice about your regular dog walk.
That series is winding down right as the bigger event arrives, which means the timing this year is tight. The city's own runs wrap up in the same weeks that Aravaipa's crew starts setting up aid stations and marking a course that will see runners for nearly 24 hours straight.
What The Bear Chase Actually Is
The Bear Chase is not one race. It is a full weekend built around six distances, split across two days for a reason that matters if you are trying to plan around it.
Saturday, October 3, belongs to the long stuff: the 100K, the 50 mile, and the 50K all start early, between 4:30 and 7:30 in the morning, and the longest of them will have runners on the course well into Saturday night. Sunday, October 4, is the shorter lineup, with wave starts for the Half Marathon, the 10K, which regulars call the Baby Bear, and the 5K all landing in that same early morning window.
The course itself uses names that only make sense once you have run it. Mount Carbon is the first big climb. Red Rocks View comes last, and it earns the name, offering the kind of sightline toward the foothills that makes the effort worth it. There is a second climb just past the entrance to Fox Hollow Golf Course that has its own nickname among Bear Chase veterans, though you will have to ask one of them to learn it. Roughly 95 percent of the course is dirt and singletrack, which is part of why Aravaipa markets this as an accessible first ultra for a lot of runners.
Everything starts and finishes at Big Soda Lake Beach, in the park's northwest corner, the same spot where the city's own series runners have been finishing their Tuesday night loops all month. The park itself covers about 2,600 acres, which is why the two events can share a trail network without literally colliding.
What Changes If You Are Not Racing
Here is the part that matters if you are not registered for anything and just want to take the dog out or get a Saturday ride in.
Once the race begins each day, entry into Bear Creek Lake Park requires a Daily or Annual Park Pass, even if you are only there to watch. Crew and spectators get complimentary entry before the starting gun, but that window closes fast, especially Saturday morning when the ultra distances go off before 5 a.m. If you are planning to show up mid-morning to cheer someone on, bring a pass or be ready to buy one at the gate.
It is also worth knowing that Bear Creek Lake Park is not a Colorado State Park, so the standard state park pass does not apply here. This trips up a fair number of people who assume one pass covers every green space in the metro.
Crewing on the course itself is prohibited across every distance. Spectators can cheer from fixed points but cannot hand off water, food, or gear anywhere along the trail, which means the aid stations, listed as Start/Finish, Homestead, and Cattail Creek, are the only places runners get support. If you are used to having the trails mostly to yourself on a weekend morning, expect a different rhythm entirely on October 3 and 4, with course marking flags, aid station tents, and a much higher density of foot traffic than any Saturday in a normal month.
Packet pickup for the race happens the Friday before, October 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Runners Roost on West Alameda, a detail that matters mostly if you know a runner staying with you that weekend and wonder why they disappear for an hour on Friday evening.
A Few Numbers That Actually Matter
Quick reference if you are trying to plan your own weekend around the event:
- Saturday, October 3: 100K, 50 mile, and 50K starts between 4:30 and 7:30 a.m., with the longest race running until roughly 9:30 p.m.
- Sunday, October 4: Half Marathon, 10K, and 5K all start in the early morning wave window
- Elevation gain ranges from about 900 feet on the Half Marathon to over 4,000 feet on the 100K, so this is not a flat lakeside jog for most of the field
- Complimentary park entry for crew and spectators ends once each day's race starts
After The Trail
If you are heading back into town after a morning at the park, whether you spent it running, walking, or just watching from the beach, Metro Pie Pizza opened this year on Wadsworth Boulevard and has been turning out Hong Kong-inspired pies that are worth the stop. It is a small addition to the corridor between the park and central Lakewood, but it is the kind of new opening that tells you something is shifting in how this stretch of the city eats, one storefront at a time rather than all at once.
The Bigger Picture
None of this is really about the race. It is about knowing which weekends at Bear Creek Lake Park are yours and which ones belong to a few thousand runners chasing Mount Carbon and Red Rocks View. The city's own series asks nothing of you. The Bear Chase asks for a pass, a little patience, and maybe a rerouted walk. Knowing the difference before October 3 saves you the surprise of showing up at the gate with a leash in hand and no plan B.
If you are the kind of person who already has opinions about which Bear Creek Lake Park trail has the best afternoon light, you already know this neighborhood in a way that would take most people years to learn. That is exactly the kind of local read that matters whenever the conversation turns to buying or selling here. If that conversation ever comes up for you or someone you know, Colin & Company is always glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
