If you’ve been chasing your canine companion along Lair o’ the Bear Park’s winding trails since dawn, odds are you’ve worked up an appetite so strong you’d wrestle the popular recreation area’s namesake for some good barbecue. Luckily, all you have to do to get your hands on a sandwich nearly as tall as the mountain you just climbed is drive 3.5 miles west to Switchback Smokehouse.

In the tiny town of Kittredge, owner and pitmaster Darryl Swarts slow-cooks a variety of proteins both traditional (pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, sausage links) and harder-to-find (duck breast, bourbon-glazed salmon, Montreal-style brisket). Order them by weight from the butcher counter or meet the meat head-on in a loaded sandwich called the Devil’s Elbow: a hellacious haystack of luscious pulled pork topped with fried pickles and tangy coleslaw teetering on a brioche bun.

5280 June 2025
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Sides include surprisingly thoughtful salads, two-tone cowboy beans, carb-reloading mac and cheese, and (our favorite) chunky deep-fried giardiniera. Wash it all down with a craft beer on the willow-shaded deck overlooking Bear Creek, where your pooch is welcome to join you for lunch and a scoop of house-made ice cream.

Read More: The Best Barbecue Joints In and Around Denver