Kittredge
Bear Creek Canyon, CO
Evergreen’s eclectic canyon village — a small, tightly knit mountain community of 1,300 people tucked into Bear Creek Canyon between Evergreen and Morrison, where 1920s cottages sit alongside custom mountain homes on Bear Creek, Lair o’ the Bear’s trails start at the edge of town, Red Rocks Amphitheater is 12 minutes east, residents walk to coffee and the park, and Parmalee Elementary flows into the same Evergreen Middle and Evergreen High pipeline — ranked 11th in Colorado — that the rest of Evergreen feeds. The price point that answers yes when buyers ask if Evergreen is affordable.
- Zip Code80457
- LocationBear Creek Canyon · 2 mi east of Evergreen
- UtilitiesVaries — verify by property (public road + utilities many)
- Home Styles1920s cottages to custom mountain homes
- Price Range~$460K–$1.3M+ (median ~$525K–$562K)
- HOAMost properties: no HOA
- School DistrictJefferson County R-1 · Parmalee Elem
- Red Rocks12 minutes east · Denver 35–45 min
The Eclectic Version of Evergreen — A Canyon Village Since 1923
Kittredge has been operating as a distinct community since 1923, when C.M. Kittredge became the first postmaster and gave the canyon hamlet its name. It sits at 7,073 feet in Bear Creek Canyon on CO-74, two miles east of Evergreen and ten miles west of Morrison, tucked between the canyon walls with Bear Creek running through the community and many properties backing directly to the creek for backyard fishing. The canyon setting gives Kittredge a character that the broader Evergreen community’s open terrain doesn’t produce: more intimate, more eclectic, and with more local restaurants. Feels more like a small town on it’s own.
The housing stock reflects the community’s century of continuous occupation — 1920s cottages and split-levels alongside architect-designed contemporary mountain homes, custom multi-story builds, and modest vintage cabins that have been modernized over decades of loving renovation. Unlike the newer construction that defines Bergen Park and Hiwan, Kittredge offers the genuine architectural variety that only time produces. Many homes have mature trees, creek-adjacent yards, large lawns, and the settled character of properties that have been inhabited and cared for through multiple ownership cycles. A few properties still have the original footprint of an early Bear Creek Canyon retreat; others have been expanded into genuine family homes of 3,000-plus square feet.
What makes Kittredge distinctly livable, and what the community’s 76.7% homeownership rate and $192K average household income reflect, is the walkability that most mountain communities can’t offer. Residents walk to Blackbird Cafe for coffee, to Switchback Smokehouse for dinner, to O’Fallon Park for a stream-side picnic, and to Lair o’ the Bear Park’s trailhead at the edge of town. The community hosts chili cook-offs and farmers markets. The neighbors know each other by name and tend to stay for decades. It is the specific mountain village character that most buyers who fall in love with Evergreen are actually looking for, and Kittredge is where it exists in its most concentrated form.
Important buyer notes: Bear Creek runs through Kittredge and some properties are in mapped flood zones — always verify flood zone designation and request elevation certificates for creek-adjacent lots before purchasing. Wildfire risk applies; fire-wise clearance required on all properties. Verify utility type (public vs. well/septic) by specific property. Bear Creek Canyon Road has shaded sections that hold ice in winter. Kittredge’s zip code is 80457 — different from Evergreen’s 80439.
Between Evergreen and Morrison — Red Rocks 12 Minutes East
Kittredge sits on CO-74 in Bear Creek Canyon, two miles east of Evergreen and approximately ten miles west of Morrison. The specific geographic position creates a commute profile different from Bergen Park or Hiwan: rather than I-70 at Bergen Park, Kittredge residents reach Denver via Bear Creek Canyon Road east to Morrison, connecting to C-470 for DTC access in approximately 35 to 45 minutes. The route is a canyon road, narrower and more winding than I-70, with shaded sections that hold ice in winter. Red Rocks Amphitheater, one of Colorado’s most celebrated concert venues, is approximately 12 minutes east via Morrison — a proximity that Kittredge residents describe as one of the most Colorado-feeling facts about their daily address. Evergreen’s full commercial corridor, Evergreen Lake, and Main Street restaurants are two miles west. For daily groceries, King Soopers in Bergen Park is approximately 10 minutes.
Lair o’ the Bear Walkable, Bear Creek in the Backyard, Red Rocks 12 Minutes
- Lair o’ the Bear Park (394 acres — 5 miles trails, Bear Creek fishing — walkable)
- O’Fallon Park / Corwina Park (hiking, picnic areas, Bear Creek access)
- Bear Creek fishing from many backyard properties
- Kittredge Community Park (playground, fitness path)
- Red Rocks Amphitheater (12 min east — iconic concert venue + hiking)
- Red Rocks Trading Post Trail and Hogback trail loops
- Evergreen Lake (2 miles west — fishing, paddleboarding, winter skating)
- Alderfer/Three Sisters Park (short drive — summit hiking)
- Elk Meadow Open Space (10 min west — 1,400+ acres, Bergen Peak)
- Bear Creek Lake Park (at C-470 — fishing, camping, yurt rentals)
- Colorado Bear Creek Cabins (creekside lodging nearby)
Lair o’ the Bear Park is Kittredge’s defining outdoor asset — a 394-acre Jefferson County Open Space park at the community’s edge with almost five miles of designated trails along Bear Creek, easy creek access for fishing, and the picnic areas that draw visitors from across the metro on weekends. For Kittredge residents, it is not a destination requiring a drive; it is the park at the end of a 10-minute walk. Bear Creek itself runs through many properties, providing backyard fishing access that is rare in any residential market and genuinely unique in an Evergreen price context. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 12 minutes east via Morrison, adds a cultural and outdoor recreation dimension that no other Evergreen neighborhood can claim: trail runs on the Red Rocks Trading Post Trail in the morning, concerts in the evening, and the specific sense of living near one of Colorado’s most iconic landscapes rather than driving past it on the way to somewhere else.
Education in Kittredge
Kittredge is served by Jefferson County School District R-1 within the Evergreen articulation area. Parmalee Elementary is the primary elementary school for Kittredge addresses. All students progress to Evergreen Middle School and Evergreen High School — ranked 11th in Colorado by US News.
School attendance boundaries are address-specific. Always verify your specific elementary assignment with Jefferson County School District before purchasing. Private options in the Evergreen/Kittredge area include Evergreen Country Day School and The Montessori School of Evergreen.
A Canyon Village with More Restaurants Per Resident Than Evergreen
Kittredge’s Bear Creek Road commercial strip is one of the most genuine small mountain-town dining scenes in the Jefferson County foothills — a handful of locally owned restaurants and general stores that serve a community of 1,300 people and the visitors who drive through Bear Creek Canyon on weekends. The local dining culture here is part of the neighborhood identity, not supplementary to it. Evergreen’s full Main Street scene is two miles west for the occasions that call for the Little Bear or Studio Restaurant.
A Kittredge community anchor on Bear Creek Road — the BBQ that residents walk to for dinner and that visitors driving Bear Creek Canyon specifically stop for. The kind of locally owned smokehouse that a canyon village of 1,300 earns slowly and protects fiercely.
A Kittredge Bear Creek Road restaurant that residents describe as the casual neighborhood dinner destination — the one that serves as the default weeknight pick when cooking feels like too much effort and Evergreen’s Main Street feels like too much of an occasion.
Kittredge’s community café — the morning gathering point that residents walk to before a trail run at Lair o’ the Bear or a creek-side morning on their property. The daily ritual that gives Kittredge the small-town feel that residents describe as the reason they won’t trade it for a larger Evergreen neighborhood.
Two miles west in downtown Evergreen — the live music venue that Kittredge residents make the short drive to for Friday evenings when the canyon restaurants have filled and the occasion calls for the full Evergreen community experience rather than the intimate village one.
Evergreen’s hometown butcher, scratch kitchen, and cowboy bar — smash’d burgers and craft BBQ made with Colorado beef from Lazy Acre Ranch, the owner’s family operation that has ranched in Evergreen since 1863. The butcher shop stocks fresh cuts, housemade sausages, and dry-aged meats; the Cowboy Lounge pours whiskey, bourbon, and local Evergreen beers.
A fresh-casual breakfast and lunch option on Evergreen Parkway that has become a standing weekend morning routine for downtown residents heading out before a trail run at Elk Meadow or a paddle on the lake. The kind of reliable neighborhood café that a mountain community earns slowly and keeps because the quality justifies the loyalty.
Life in Kittredge
Kittredge residents describe their community with a specificity that reflects decades of intentional choice rather than accidental arrival. The 1920s cottage that was renovated rather than demolished because the bones and the creek view were worth preserving. The morning walk to Blackbird Cafe before fishing from the back of the property for an hour. The Lair o’ the Bear trail that starts at the edge of the neighborhood and covers five miles without requiring a car. The chili cook-off that brings 200 people to a community of 1,300. The Red Rocks show that begins with a 12-minute drive home and ends at midnight with the canyon road dark and quiet and entirely worth it. And the Evergreen High School that their children attend — ranked 11th in Colorado — at a price point that the Hiwan Golf Club and Soda Creek estate buyers pay significantly more to access. Kittredge is what buyers mean when they say they want mountain living without having to become wealthy to afford it.
Lair o’ the Bear Park — 394 acres of Jefferson County Open Space with almost 5 miles of trails along Bear Creek and easy creek fishing access — is walkable from most of Kittredge. One of Jefferson County’s most popular open spaces is effectively the neighborhood park. The daily trail that Kittredge residents take instead of driving to a trailhead.
Bear Creek runs through Kittredge and backs many properties — providing backyard fishing access, the sound of moving water year-round, and the canyon microclimate that gives Kittredge its specific sensory character. Creek-front lot positions command premiums and carry flood zone considerations that should be verified at due diligence for any creek-adjacent property.
Kittredge’s housing stock spans a century of mountain building — original 1920s cottages alongside architect-designed contemporary custom homes, with no HOA governing most properties. The architectural variety that a century of continuous occupation produces is the specific physical character that makes Kittredge feel different from every master-planned community in the metro. Most properties: no HOA.
Red Rocks Amphitheater is 12 minutes east via Morrison — morning trail runs on the Trading Post Trail, concert evenings that end with a 12-minute canyon drive home, and the standing awareness of living adjacent to one of the world’s most recognized outdoor venues. The proximity that no other Evergreen neighborhood has and that Kittredge residents describe with the quiet satisfaction of people who know it’s underappreciated.
Kittredge’s community culture — chili cook-offs, farmers markets, neighbors who know each other after years of Bear Creek Road encounters — is the specific social character that a community of 1,300 produces when the residents stay for decades rather than cycling through. The mountain village identity that larger Evergreen neighborhoods produce in fragments, Kittredge produces comprehensively.
Kittredge feeds Parmalee Elementary into Evergreen Middle School into Evergreen High School — the same top-11 Colorado public high school pipeline that Soda Creek estate buyers and Hiwan Golf Club members access, at a median home price that is roughly half of Soda Creek’s and a third of Hiwan’s premium tier. The school pipeline value proposition in Kittredge is one of the best in the entire Denver metro.
Homes for Sale in Kittredge
Ready to Call Kittredge Home?
Lair o’ the Bear walkable, Bear Creek in the backyard, Red Rocks 12 minutes east, Blackbird Cafe a walk away, Evergreen High ranked 11th in Colorado, and vintage mountain cottage charm at Evergreen’s most accessible price points. The canyon village that ends the search. Let’s talk.