Ask two neighbors on Pinewood Drive what they did Saturday and you'll get answers that sound like different zip codes. One walked the dog up a forest road from the mailbox. The other drove twelve minutes to a reservoir where the dog had to stay in the car. Same town, same morning, opposite rules. The ridge you live on decides more of your weekend than the highway does.
The Ridge That Splits Your Weekend
Pinewood sits between two very different pieces of public land, and residents who plan around that fact get more out of the summer than those who don't.
East and uphill from the neighborhood is Roosevelt National Forest. The approach starts at the intersection of Pinewood Drive and Chipmunk Drive, where an unmarked trail climbs toward two granite formations locals call Dome Rock and Button Rock. It's the kind of access most Colorado towns would put on a brochure. Here it's the end of somebody's street.
West and downhill, past the highway and along County Road 80, is Button Rock Preserve, the City of Longmont's water supply. Same name, entirely different rulebook. Dogs are prohibited in Button Rock Preserve in order to protect wildlife habitat. If you've ever loaded up the golden retriever, driven to the Sleepy Lion trailhead, and turned around at the sign, you already know.
The practical version of that rule looks like this:
| Trailhead | Land manager | Dogs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinewood Dr. / Chipmunk Dr. (Dome Rock, Button Rock formations) | Roosevelt National Forest | Yes, leashed | 2.2-mile out-and-back near Pinewood Springs; the trail is not maintained and seldom used |
| County Road 80 (Sleepy Lion, Ralph Price Reservoir, Coffintop) | Button Rock Preserve (City of Longmont) | No | Dogs are not allowed in Button Rock Preserve, which manages the first section of this trail |
| CR 47 to FSR 118.1 (Button Rock Loop north approach) | Roosevelt National Forest | Yes, leashed | Carpool north on U.S. 36 just past Pinewood Springs, turn left on County Road 47; parking is at the intersection with Forest Service Road 118.1, about 2.5 miles in |
Two of those trailheads are inside the neighborhood's daily radius. One is a ten-minute drive that ends with a leash-in-the-car reset. Knowing the difference is the first thing a new neighbor learns and the first thing every generic Front Range hiking blog leaves out.
From the Neighborhood, On Foot or Nearly
The Dome Rock approach is the closest thing Pinewood has to a signature hike, and it behaves like a neighborhood trail rather than a park. The trail to 7,940 ft Dome Rock is the same as to 8,035 ft Button Rock, beginning at the intersection of dirt roads Pinewood Dr. and Chipmunk Dr. in Pinewood Springs, between Lyons and Estes Park. Button Rock itself is for technical climbing only, with no hiking trail to its summit, while Dome Rock is the oblong-shaped red granite outcropping just to the south.
Two things worth knowing before you head up:
- There is no parking at the trailhead. It is difficult to access, and hikers coming from outside the neighborhood are told to park down on Highway 36. If you live here, you already have the advantage. If you're hosting weekend guests, plan a drop-off.
- The main approach trail has steep sections without switchbacks and will deposit a fit hiker on the saddle between the two formations in about 30 minutes.
For a longer day without leaving the ridge system, the Button Rock Mountain complex on the north side of the reservoir opens up. North of Button Rock Reservoir and west of US Hwy 36 is a large portion of the Roosevelt National Forest centered around Button Rock Mountain at 8,450 feet elevation, with an extensive trail system running from Pinewood Springs across the mountain to the Coulson Gulch Trailhead off Big Elk Road to the west. That's the loop that eats a full Saturday and returns you home before the afternoon storm.
For residents with dogs, the calculus is simple: stay on the Pinewood side of the ridge, or head north through the CR 47 access, and the leash rules of the National Forest apply. The Preserve trails, beautiful as they are, are a solo or human-only outing.
The Pie Question
Every town has a place where locals send the visiting in-laws. In Pinewood, it's a roadside shop on US-36 that shares the community's mailing address.
The Colorado Cherry Company has been a fixture along U.S. 36 near Estes Park for decades, a family business that has seen its fair share of visitors through the years. The family-owned shop is famous for its cherry pies, ice cream, and coffee, and for lunch you can get a homemade chicken pot pie. The address, 12311 N St Vrain Dr, technically reads Lyons, but the storefront is on the Pinewood side of the canyon and the visitor traffic reflects it.
Two things residents tend to figure out over their first summer:
- The shop is a legitimate meeting point. If a friend is coming up from Boulder or the Front Range and you want to split the drive, meeting at Colorado Cherry beats meeting in Lyons.
- It's on the tourist route to Rocky Mountain National Park. Tourists stop into the store for pie and the hearty meals, with a lot heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park. If you're going for a quiet Sunday coffee, get there early.
The shop also serves as a reminder of what wildlife density looks like at this elevation. A widely-reported incident from a past summer had a black bear breaking in through a basement door and helping itself to pies overnight. The story reads as charming from a distance. From a Pinewood porch, it reads as a memo about locking the freezer on the deck.
When the Community Shows Up in One Room
The functional center of the neighborhood isn't a coffee shop. It's the Richard L. Wilcox Fire Station and Community Center. That's where the community shows up in person, and where the summer calendar quietly runs through.
The most recent example is a good one to know about. The Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District held a Wildfire Preparedness Day event and open house at the Richard L. Wilcox Fire Station and Community Center in Larimer County on May 9, 2026. The event drew the groups you actually want to have met if something goes sideways in August. The Larimer County Office of Emergency Management, Larimer County Sheriff's Office Emergency Services, NOCO Alert, Pinewood Springs Water District, Pinewood Springs Property Owners Association, Pinewood Springs Road Board, and Estes Park Estates Road Board were on hand with information at the event.
Attending isn't decorative. Fire Chief Plank spoke about the extreme drought in the area and how to prepare for a wildland fire, including a plan for pets and property cleanup. If you moved up here in the last two years, the preparedness day is where you meet the road board chair and the water district before you actually need them.
The wider community infrastructure sits behind the PSPOA. The Pinewood Springs Property Owners' Association is an all-volunteer 501(c)(4) non-profit that has served the community since 1975. Beyond covenants, the association maintains two spots that a lot of newer residents don't realize they have access to. The PSPOA pays insurance premiums and property taxes and provides equipment and upkeep for the PSPOA-owned Tubs and Crescent Lake Parks common areas. If you're a paid member and you haven't walked down to the Tubs on a hot July afternoon, that's an oversight worth correcting.
The association also handles the small logistics that make mountain life cheaper. It obtains Amerigas and Polar Gas propane discounts for paid PSPOA members. Propane math matters more here than in most Front Range zip codes.
A Weekend That Uses the Neighborhood
Put the pieces together and a Pinewood summer weekend looks less like a tourist itinerary and more like a set of choices only a resident can make well.
Saturday morning, if the dog is coming: coffee on the porch, then up the Pinewood-Chipmunk approach toward Dome Rock before the sun gets on the granite. Home by ten, with the rest of the day open. Saturday afternoon, if you left the dog with a neighbor: the drive down to Sleepy Lion and Ralph Price Reservoir, water bottle refilled at the Cherry Company on the way back.
Sunday, if there's smoke in the forecast or the drought has the ridge feeling brittle, skip the trail and go to the community center meeting instead. The neighbors you meet in the parking lot are the same ones who will call you when a bear tests your trash cans in September.
That's the version of Pinewood a portal will never show you, and it's the version worth writing home about.
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