Golden has shut down a stretch of its popular Tucker Gulch Trail until further notice after a mother bear and her two cubs kept turning up in the area between First and Seventh streets. City officials say barricades will stay up on both sides of the closed section indefinitely, and they're urging hikers and dog walkers to steer clear entirely rather than risk a run-in.
Sow And Cubs Repeatedly Spotted Near Downtown
According to the Denver Post, the closure went into effect Wednesday after the Golden Police Department received several reports of the sow and her two cubs in the trail closure area. City officials say the mother bear has grown increasingly protective of her cubs, creating what they describe as a potential safety concern for anyone using the trail. Tucker Gulch Trail is a 1.1-mile path that runs along an abandoned railroad bed and the Tucker Gulch drainage, stretching from Vanover Park to Norman D. Park, and the closed section sits roughly five miles north of Apex Park.
City officials have advised people to avoid the closed area altogether and not to approach or interact with bears or any other wildlife they encounter nearby. It isn't the first time a Jefferson County trail has been shut down over bear activity this year — county officials temporarily closed Apex Park earlier in 2026 after a bear attacked a hiker there, according to the same Denver Post report.
A Record-Breaking Year For Colorado Bears
Golden's closure is playing out against the backdrop of what wildlife officials are calling an extraordinary year for bear activity statewide. Colorado Parks and Wildlife received 8,672 reports of bear sightings and conflicts between January 1 and August 31, more than double the 3,680 reports logged over the same period in 2025, and more than three times the five-year average, per the Denver Post. The agency has also confirmed that wildlife officers responded to 10 bear attacks so far in 2026, which officials say marks a record high for the state.
The surge has forced wildlife officers into grim territory. As reported by The Colorado Sun, officers had euthanized 294 bears by Aug. 31, compared with 83 through the same point last year, while 98 bears were relocated statewide, up from 33 a year earlier. The outlet's reporting notes the number of reported incidents in 2026 is running 3.6 times the current five-year average. One female bear that knocked over and bit an angler near the South Platte River was tracked down by a dog team in Jefferson County and euthanized the following day, per the same account.
Drought And Shrinking Food Supplies Push Bears Into Towns
Golden officials point to Colorado's drought as a key driver, saying it has pushed bears increasingly into urban areas as they search for food. The Colorado Sun's reporting backs that up more broadly, noting that drought and wildfire have stolen much of the natural food bears typically rely on, forcing them to forage in Colorado communities instead. Jefferson County alone had logged 328 bear encounters as of Aug. 17, the highest total among the counties near Denver, according to the Denver Post's earlier coverage of the statewide trend.
That same reporting found bears had already been spotted in 41 of Colorado's 64 counties this year, with the state's bear reports surpassing 2025's full-year total of 5,299 by Aug. 13 alone. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says 2026 is on pace to be the busiest year for bear reports since the agency rolled out its statewide digital reporting system in 2019, and there are an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 black bears living across the state. Officials expect encounters to keep climbing as bears enter hyperphagia, the pre-winter phase in which they can spend up to 20 hours a day hunting for food.
The pattern isn't unique to Colorado. In Larimer County, five bears had been relocated by late August, including one pulled off the campus of Colorado State University, according to the Coloradoan. Farther west, Utah wildlife biologists and law enforcement responded to 168 bear issues in 2026, double the previous year's total, as reported by KCRA. For now, Golden residents are left watching the barricades along Tucker Gulch Trail, with no word yet on when the popular path might reopen.
