South of the Rocky Heights Middle School parking lot, a trail drops toward a dry creek bed lined with trees. For most of the year, nobody walks it. Every October it fills with lights, props and staged scenes like a butcher shop, along with dozens of teenagers in clown, doll and witch makeup they did themselves.

The Haunted Forest has run there every year since 2011. The 2026 version is set up differently. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Highlands Ranch Community Association runs three separate experiences on that same stretch of woods, one after another, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Your family no longer has to decide whether a seven-year-old can handle the forest at all. You pick which hour of the day fits that child.

The one time these woods open

The Backcountry Wilderness Area covers 8,200 acres that HRCA manages to balance recreation with wildlife habitat. Beyond Base Camp, you get in through guided programs. HRCA's designated trail system is private and open to residents and their accompanied guests. The creek bed behind Rocky Heights is stricter than either. Lindsey McKissick, the Backcountry Wilderness Area's communications manager, put it this way to the Highlands Ranch Herald:

"This area is not open to the public, so this is the only time we access it."

In the same interview, McKissick said the event takes about a month to set up, and that the woods themselves do most of the decorating. That month of work used to pay off over two nights for one audience. This year, HRCA is getting a lot more use out of the same set.

Saturday, Oct. 24, hour by hour

All three Saturday experiences start in the same place. Park at Rocky Heights Middle School, 11033 Monarch Blvd., then walk the trail on the south end of the lot to the Haunted Forest Community Area. The address says Lone Tree, but the woods belong to HRCA.

1. Haunted Forest Fall Fest, 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 for kids and $5 for adults, and children under 1 get in free. The Community Area has a bounce house, crafts and food truck treats, and the trail walk through the decorated forest is billed as "not-as-scary." HRCA says it's designed for younger children and families.
2. Haunted Forest Fright Lite, 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. You get the lights, music, decorations and themed scenes of the real trail, without live scare actors.
3. Haunted Forest, 7 to 10 p.m. General admission is $15 and a fast pass is $25. It's the full three-quarter-mile walk with scare actors, it's recommended for ages 10 and up, and it uses flashing strobe lights. The full haunt also runs Friday, Oct. 23, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Fright Lite ends at 7 p.m., and the full haunt starts at 7. One group of kids can be leaving the trail just as another lines up for the version with actors.

Fright Lite is the real haunt before the actors go live

Fright Lite isn't a separate kids' trail. HRCA's event page says the 5 p.m. slot shows off the themed scenes of the full haunt while "people will still be in the woods preparing for our full haunt experiences, but scarers will not be acting and may not be in full costume."

So a Fright Lite ticket is a look at the same set, on the same evening, a couple of hours before the jump scares begin. HRCA pitches it to "anyone who isn't in for the full, jump scare experience." That covers a fourth grader on the fence, a grandparent who wants to see what the fuss is about, and an adult who would rather look at the scenes than get chased past them.

That makes Fright Lite the useful middle option. The full haunt's ages-10-and-up guidance is a big jump from a bounce house. Fright Lite gives a child the same trail at dusk, with the people in the woods still getting ready, so the scenes they would face later aren't a complete surprise.

An earlier year had a daytime walk too, so here's what changed

In his letter in HRCA's October 2026 newsletter, Mike Bailey introduces Fall Fest and Fright Lite as two new events "geared toward younger families." Fright Lite has no earlier version. The daytime option does.

An earlier Highlands Ranch Herald preview described a junior event at 2:30 p.m. on the haunt's second day for kids up to 14. They walked the forest in daylight without scare actors, with face painting, a bouncy slide, a live animal presentation, spooky storytime and a food truck. Every ticket cost $10.

Fall Fest grows that into a three-hour window with a cheaper $5 adult ticket, and it adds the evening Fright Lite slot. Put together, families now have a daytime walk, a dusk walk and the full haunt on one Saturday. The format in that Herald preview had a single afternoon slot and then the full haunt.

What past years' ticketing suggests for this year

HRCA's 2026 page lists the fast pass price without saying what it gets you. That same Herald preview reported that the $25 pass was for "those wishing to skip the long line," and that every ticket came with a 30-minute entry time slot. A 2024 listing described the pass as skipping the main line but still limited to your ticketed time slot. Treat that as how it worked in past years. Confirm the 2026 terms with HRCA before you assume.

The 2026 haunt is also listed on Eventbrite, which shows a starting price of $17.42 against HRCA's $15 face price. Eventbrite doesn't explain the difference, so plan for possible fees on top of the prices above. Nothing published for 2026 says whether tickets will be sold at the gate. Buying ahead from the HRCA Haunted Forest page is the safer bet if you're set on a particular night.

Who's in the woods, and where the money goes

Most of the scare actors are local high school students earning volunteer hours, many of them from theater programs. HRCA puts anywhere from 60 to 100 of them in the forest. They train a week ahead and are often assigned to sections of the trail with their friends. McKissick told the Herald, "We've been compared to the 13th Floor. It's our local version of that."

All proceeds from all three Saturday experiences go to the Backcountry Wilderness Area Fund. In a 2024 retrospective, HRCA said the haunt raises more than $20,000 a year for habitat preservation and environmental education. HRCA also says donations to the Fund fully pay for its Future Conservationists Initiative, which brings free environmental lessons to local second-grade classrooms. Adding two more ticketed sessions on the Saturday gives the Fund more chances to sell tickets on a set it has already built.

Building the rest of October around it

Oct. 24 is busy beyond the forest, and a few other dates this month fit around a Haunted Forest plan.

• Thursday, Oct. 15, 6 to 7 p.m. Highlands Ranch 45th Anniversary Trivia at Max Taps, 2680 E. County Line Road. It's free, but you need to register.
• Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Friends of the Highlands Ranch Senior Center Fall Craft Fair at 200 E. Highlands Ranch Parkway. Admission is free, and more than 60 artisans are expected. It runs during the morning and the first part of Fall Fest, so you can fit both into one day.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Last Stop, the free Halloween event at Highlands Ranch Mansion, is outdoors only. Stop at the front door to trick-or-treat or stay out on the veranda with a DJ and a cash bar, including a signature spooky cocktail. You don't need a reservation. The interior will be closed, parking is limited, parking in the surrounding neighborhood isn't allowed, and pets aren't allowed on the grounds. The Mansion suggests carpooling, walking or biking.
• All month. HRCA's 2026 Holiday Banner Decorating Contest runs Oct. 1 through 31, and the winning kids' designs will hang around Town Center over the holidays.

For a family with kids of different ages, Oct. 24 might go like this. Hit the craft fair in the morning and Fall Fest after lunch, bring the in-between kid back for Fright Lite at 5, and send the oldest down the trail once the actors go live at 7. Every stop on that list uses the same parking lot on Monarch Boulevard.

Highlands Ranch traditions like this one are part of what Dowling Group tracks across the southern suburbs, down to which trail opens when and which lot to park in. If you're wondering how a Highlands Ranch neighborhood fits your own family's calendar, Kerri is happy to help. Let Kerri be your guide.