In a house with a five-year-old who wants a bounce house and an eleven-year-old who wants actors jumping out of the scrub oak, which Halloween event do you pick? In Highlands Ranch this year you don't have to choose. The Highlands Ranch Community Association runs the same ¾-mile trail in the Backcountry Wilderness Area three times on Saturday, October 24. It starts gentle in the afternoon and gets scarier as the evening goes on.
The full Haunted Forest has run since 2011. For 2026, HRCA's October newsletter adds two new events on October 24 aimed at younger families. One is the Haunted Forest Fall Fest. The other is Haunted Forest Fright Lite, which the newsletter describes as "a toned-down experience with fewer jump scares." Together, the three events turn one Saturday into a ladder of scare levels on one path.
The Saturday, hour by hour
| Time on Oct. 24 | Event | Tickets | Who it's built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 p.m. | Haunted Forest Fall Fest | $10 kids, $5 adults, under 1 free | Younger children and families |
| 5 to 7 p.m. | Haunted Forest Fright Lite | $10 | Younger children, or anyone not ready for the full version |
| 7 to 10 p.m. | Haunted Forest | $15 general admission, $25 fast pass | Recommended for ages 10 and up |
Fall Fest is the most festival-like of the three. HRCA describes a decorated trail walk that is "not-as-scary," plus a bounce house, crafts, and food truck treats in the community area. It isn't entirely new territory. The Highlands Ranch Herald has covered an earlier daytime junior Haunted Forest, a child-friendly walk with no scare actors. HRCA calls Fall Fest new for 2026, and the published material doesn't say whether it replaces that daytime walk or adds to it.
Fright Lite is the more interesting addition, because it fills the gap between the other two. HRCA says the scarers "will not be acting and may not be in full costume." Guests still get the trail's lights, music, decorations, and themed scenes. So a child gets to see the full Haunted Forest sets after dark, two hours before the actors take their marks for the 7 p.m. opening.
The full Haunted Forest also runs Friday, October 23, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. HRCA warns of flashing strobe lights in the forest. Friday is the only night with no family-format events on the schedule, so a household that wants just the adult-scale scare has a night all its own.
When we checked on October 7, none of the three Eventbrite listings showed a sold-out notice. Online prices ran slightly above HRCA's listed ticket prices: $12.09 for Fright Lite, "From $17.42" for the full Haunted Forest, and "From $6.15" for Fall Fest.
Why the trail itself is the draw
The bigger reason to put October 24 on the calendar is where these events take place. HRCA describes the Backcountry Wilderness Area as an 8,200-acre conservation property that shelters elk, wild turkeys, coyotes, bluebirds, and golden eagles. Most of the year, getting into it takes planning.
The access rules come in layers:
- HRCA's 11.2 miles of private trails are open to residents and accompanied guests, and they require a member recreation ID.
- The Wildcat Mountain trail system has recurring winter wildlife closures and eagle-related closures.
- Base Camp and the Horse Corrals don't take drop-in visits. Visitors have to be part of a program, lesson, or activity.
- The Backcountry Outdoor Center off Santa Fe and Ron King Trail has "no public trailhead or independent access" into the wilderness. HRCA says this keeps wildlife "minimally impacted by humans."
- Douglas County's East/West Regional Trail is the exception. Its 12 miles through the area are open to the general public.
Against those rules, a ticketed Saturday that walks families through a decorated stretch of woods is one of the easiest ways into the Backcountry all year. The money goes back into the land, too. Proceeds from both the Haunted Forest and Fall Fest benefit the Backcountry Wilderness Area Fund. HRCA describes the fund as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has raised more than $1 million for local conservation and environmental education since 2017. The fund's page says donations pay for the Future Conservationists Initiative's no-cost second-grade classroom programs.
Getting there means parking outside Highlands Ranch, technically
All three events send visitors to the same lot: Rocky Heights Middle School at 11033 Monarch Blvd. The school has a Lone Tree mailing address. From the lot, a trail on the south side leads to the Haunted Forest Community Area, where the entrance is. On event nights, HRCA says music and lights guide the way.
Because one lot serves the whole day, Saturday's turnover is easy to predict. Fall Fest ends at 4 p.m. and Fright Lite starts at 5, so the hour between is the natural handoff. Fright Lite ends at 7, exactly when the full Haunted Forest opens. Families staying for both evening events can keep the car where it is, and older siblings can go straight from one to the other.
The full event comes with a liability waiver. It notes that participants may walk off trail in "unimproved, natural areas." Closed-toe shoes and a flashlight in a pocket are a sensible precaution on a ¾-mile walk in late October.
The same afternoon, a few miles away
HRCA has stacked a second event onto October 24. Oaked and Smoked, a whiskey-and-BBQ tasting, runs from 3 to 6 p.m. at Eastridge, 9568 University Blvd. It overlaps the last hour of Fall Fest and the first hour of Fright Lite. For a household with two adults, one could take the kids to the Backcountry while the other goes to Eastridge, and they could meet up again in the Rocky Heights lot before the 7 p.m. opening.
Why the woods matter more than usual this fall
The Backcountry has less competition from Town Center this fall. On September 8, the Highlands Ranch Metro District closed the playground, overlook shelter, upper fountains, and wading stream at Civic Green Park, 9370 Ridgeline Blvd., to replace 19-year-old play equipment. Construction is expected to run through late November.
The new playground is worth the wait. The Metro District's project page describes a bigger footprint, with continuous rubber surfacing in place of wood chips. There will be a tall main structure for ages 5 to 12 and separate structures for 2-to-5-year-olds and for toddlers 6 to 23 months. It will also have four swings under a shade awning, a spinning rope tower, and a merry-go-round with at-grade entry for inclusive play. The book sculptures will stay. Until it opens, Civic Green isn't available for an October afternoon outing, and the Backcountry's family-scale Saturday covers some of that gap.
One week later, the Backcountry hosts a different crowd
On Halloween morning, the Backcountry goes back to being a course. The 18th annual Backcountry Wilderness Half Marathon starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 31. The 13.1-mile route uses the Douglas County East/West Trail and Backcountry trails. Registration is listed at $75, and the price goes up after October 10 at 11:59 p.m. MDT. The race was originally set for November 7. HRCA's October newsletter and the registration page now list October 31, but one section of HRCA's Race Series page still shows the old date. Runners who saved the November date will want to update their calendars. The race materials don't say whether any trails close to other users that morning.
That evening, the Highlands Ranch Mansion hosts "Last Stop," a free, outdoor-only Halloween event from 6:30 to 9 p.m. with a DJ and a cash bar. So on October 31 the Backcountry handles the morning and the Mansion lawn handles the night. The Mansion stays busy into November, with HRCA's Veterans Concert there on Monday, November 9, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
For the two Saturdays that close out October, the full sequence runs like this:
- Friday, Oct. 23, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Full Haunted Forest, first night.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 to 4 p.m. Fall Fest.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 3 to 6 p.m. Oaked and Smoked at Eastridge.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 5 to 7 p.m. Fright Lite.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 7 to 10 p.m. Full Haunted Forest, second night.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 9 a.m. Backcountry Wilderness Half Marathon.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Last Stop at Highlands Ranch Mansion.
Backcountry access and Civic Green's renovation are the kind of everyday details that shape what living near them is really like, and they rarely make it onto a listing sheet. If you'd like to know how features like these factor into what your Highlands Ranch home is worth, Hanh Chung can walk you through it. Get a Free Home Valuation.
