Cherry Creek: From Arapahoe Road to Lincoln Road

 

The Rockies from Greenwood Plaza

My weather meter

First order of business: check the weather. I can't do much better here than a spot check, the weather is so unpredictable. There's nothing going on to the west. That's a nice snow pack on Blue Sky. That's where a lot of our water comes from in the Denver area. Some of the snow melt will pour into the South Platte River.

62.8° F.... comfortable 

30% humidity....fairly dry

Barometric pressure steady at 30.25 inches mercury

I can expect a good day weather-wise.

The Cherry Creek Trail runs through a string of parks that parallels the creek .

We've had a lot of snow lately but the creek is stable. No flash floods expected.

This stretch of trail features a string of parks including an ecological park which provides educational materials and activities relating to high plains ecology and another reconstructed way station on the Smoky Hills trail.

That's not wildlife. It's a metal dog in a big dog park just south of Arapahoe Road. There was only one living dog in the park that day.

A sign with a map welcomes visitors to the Cherry Creek Valley Ecological Park. There wasn't much going on the day I hiked by. This is the entrance from the trail. There are also street entrances.

The Cherry Creek Stewardship Partners provides ecological events in the areas. Here's their website.

http://www.cherry-creek.org/events

This area is high plains. The flat landscape belies the fact that it's still a mile above sea level with generally dry climate and often brutal, windy winters. Trees are generally short and scraggly without a lot of variation......cottonwoods and willows around small streams.

Creeks are often conserved in this area providing urban corridors for birds, prairie dogs, beavers, coyotes, deer, bobcats, cougar, fox, occasional bears, and other wildlife.

If I were not on a through hike, I could have brought a camp chair and staked out this area.

Plaques along the trail provide information about the ecology and history of the area.

The 17 mile House is the third way station that has been conserved on the Smokey Hill Trail, a historical frontier approach to Denver from the South. (A fourth is under water behind Cherry Creek Reservoir Dam.)

Construction is under way on the High Plains Trail which is intended to connect the Cherry Creek Trail in Parker to the Highline Canal Trail in northern Aurora. This footbridge is part of phase one of the project.

Conservation efforts along the trail include grassland habitats, deer, beaver, and these little bitty jumping mice. They have a big yard laid out just for them North of Lincoln Avenue at the Lincoln Recreation center.

It's February here in Colorado and some of the weather here is brutal. The Werehouse ecology has featured a cocktail of viruses including SARS and a new Flu A to go along with the new avian strain. It triggered off a round of bronchitis and gastroenteritis to delay my return to Cherry Creek, but first chance I get......