I started on October 27 with DOT segment 1, downtown Golden to Apex Park. Warm day, but luckily a lot of the Lookout Mountain trail is north-facing and out of the sun. I took in the views from the top, then ran down Apex trails to the lower trailhead on Heritage Rd. Mostly excellent smooth runnable trails in beautiful terrain. Then I ran back to my car at Parfet Park. The clock had started!
November 2. I had intended to do the other southwest trail segments next, but a post-Halloween snowstorm changed my plans. So the next week I drove to the Broomfield Park n Ride, then took the RTD 112 bus east to the intersection of segments 23 and 24. Ran/walked segments 24-28 to Golden via Westminster and Arvada. About 29 miles total. There are some very nice parts on these trails. Who knew there's a National Wildlife Refuge in Arvada? I had to make slight deviations from the official DOT map due to parks and utilities construction in Westminster and Arvada. A real highlight of the day was the Colorado Tap House in Arvada. It's a brewpub with food trucks and is located right on the Ralston Creek Trail. I bought a Coke and three bottles of water. The joys of urban walking! The Ralston Creek trail goes up and over, down to Highway 93 and has great views to the west. Walked south, up North Table Mountain and then down to Golden. I took a minor fall coming off the steep part of North Table because my old worn-out Hoka Stinsons have poor traction, but got only minor scrapes and bruises. As I arrived at Parfet Park I just made the 17 bus, took that to the W line light rail at Oak Station, then the FF1 back to Broomfield.
On November 10 I started at the same spot as last week but went the other way for segments 23, 22, and 21, clockwise on the DOT: Westminster to Commerce City. I chose this group of segments and the direction because the 112 bus to the 23/24 junction is hourly, whereas segment 21/20 junction is very close to the 72nd Ave Commerce City light rail station. It made more sense to take the bus to the start and the more-frequent N line light rail afterward. Also, transit is harder to access in segments 20 and 19, so if I'd gone farther, the return home by bus/train would have taken much more time. This day was pretty much all concrete path and I ran a lot of it. The Lee Lateral Ditch Trail through the Eastlake Heritage area in Thornton was a treat. The sewage treatment plant on the Platte River Trail was not. Weather was 50s, and at 22 miles I was able to do the outing on one liter of water plus Nuun without a resupply.
November 16 was the longest day of the project, Commerce City to Cherry Creek Reservoir, segments 20-14, 36 miles. I drove to Broomfield, took the FF1 and N line back up to the 72nd Ave station to start. I ran/walked south, then east past the Suncor refinery, then up through newer neighborhoods north of I-270. I never thought I'd ever walk along 270 or right past Sapp Bros Food and Fuel, but here I was. Lots of people on the trail, mostly cycling, so I had plenty of company on a Sunday morning. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal was easily the best part of the day, and the following Wednesday I returned to the Arsenal for a walk with my wife. Thanks to the Denver Orbital Trail I now know how nice it is. After exiting the Arsenal, I continued east under Pena Blvd., through Green Valley Ranch and down to an aid station stop at 7-Eleven at the corner of Tower Rd and East Colfax. A Coke, bag of potato chips, a banana, and a liter and a half of water later, I was on my way south. There were lots of walkers and cyclists out on the High Line Canal Trail. I reached the Nine Mile transit station at Cherry Creek at about 4pm, planning to take the light rail H to the E to Union Station. Because of the slowdowns on the light rail lines, I waited a long time for the H at Nine Mile Station, and for the transfer to the E line at 10th and Osage, so it was two hours before I even got on the FF1 at Union Station. I met a guy on the platform who told me that a few weeks before he'd chosen to take a Lime scooter rather than the light rail, which says a lot about how maddeningly slow it is with the ongoing track maintenance projects.
Now that I had about 80 miles to go, it seemed like I should speed up and get it done. Having had some dry weather, on the 23rd I went for segments 2-6, Apex Park to Chatfield Reservoir. About 30 miles. There's a nice variety of scenery and terrain in the 30 miles, first the hogback down to I-70, then the trails to Red Rocks, through Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, and Bear Creek Lake Park. Bear Creek is very nice, though we only saw a few miles of the trails in the park. Leaving Bear Creek Park, the C-470 trail was next. It was not too pleasant, being essentially a sidewalk next to the highway. I bought some water at the Circle-K at West Bowles Ave. At West Ken Caryl Ave the DOT mercifully leaves C-470, and here is where my complete DOT has an asterisk. Because of a forest fire earlier in the year, Jeffco Open Space has closed Deer Creek Canyon Park, so much of segment 5 and most of segment 6 are not accessible. The Denver Orbital Trail website recommended taking the Cathy Johnson Trail and Columbine Trail through Ken Caryl Ranch instead, so I did. Because of this, the "Route Variation" pulldown should include a Fire Bypass option. The bypass took about five miles and 2000 vertical from the loop, and someday when the trails reopen people can once again do the full DOT. We saw three large rattlesnakes on the Two Brands Trail section of segment 6, rattles going. Walked on to Chatfield, where I'd planned to take a Lyft back to Apex, but it's a state park so the car would have had to pay to get in. Instead, we walked an extra five miles around to the east side of Chatfield to a spot near the corner of West Highlands Ranch Pkwy and Santa Fe Dr., and Lyft-ed back to Apex. My friend Max accompanied me on this segment.
Three days later, the day after Thanksgiving, I did 23 miles of segments 11, 12, and 13: Ridgegate to Cherry Creek. I drove to Ridgegate Park n Ride, walked a mile south to the intersection with the DOT, then headed east. The trail started with some scenic hilly sections with great views from the high points. After that it was concrete paths through Parker and up to Cherry Creek SP. Stopped at Circle K where the trail crosses East Arapahoe Rd and bought a bottle of water. There were some very nice parts along Cherry Creek in Parker on segment 12. Once in the park, the dirt trails are great. I'd never been to Cherry Creek SP before so I didn't know how big it is, and how nice the trails are. I also didn't know there's a shooting range in there. I finished with a walk around the reservoir to the Nine Mile transit station. I took the R rail line back to Ridgegate and drove home.
Last day, November 29. Three days after 11-13, I returned to Highlands Ranch and Santa Fe to walk the remains of 7, then 8, 9, and 10, a total of about 19 miles. Max joined me on this outing as well. I drove to the County Line Station transit station and took the 7:34 402L bus to the corner of Highlands Ranch Parkway and Santa Fe Drive. It was windy and cold, but we ran and warmed up after an hour or so. The Douglas County East-West Trail is scenic, mostly smooth dirt, some fun swoopy sections, and has great views most of the way. Segment 9 leaves the East-West trail and takes the West Fork Big Dry Creek Trail, which is ok, but having been on the East-West trail before, I think it's nicer than the Big Dry Creek Trail. But trail access is much easier on Big Dry Creek, which may be why DOT is routed as it is. We had some mud and snow to start, but finished with a nice descent down to I-25, meeting back up with my previous track, and completing the whole DOT! We walked the mile up to Schweiger Ranch and Ridgegate PnR, where we took the E line light rail back up to County Line PnR. Park Meadows Mall was full full full for Black Friday - inconceivable to us because those people should have been out for a nice long walk.
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