Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Federal Center Station to Oak Station

The Eastern Continental Trail, which includes the Florida Trail, the Alabama Roadwalk, the Pinhote Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the International Appalachian Trail, will carry you from Key West, Florida to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador, 4,400 miles. But it requires a lot of walking on trails, plus roadwork and waterwork.

Roadwork happens when no foot trails have been developed, like the stretch in Alabama between the end of the Florida Trail and the beginning of the Pinhote Trail near Weogufka, Alabama. They're also places in Canada where there is water that must be crossed.

It's not that I've done all that. I just wanted to introduce some terminology, because even on these short station-to-station hikes, I end up doing a lot of roadwork.

Starting at Federal Center Station in Lakewood, I had to figure out how to get across highway 6 on my hike to Oak Station. Of course, I did my homework before starting out.

There are some parts of the Denver Metro area that are not pedestrian friendly...few street signs, trails, sidewalks. I would prefer not to walk on a busy overpass with no sidewalk. Luckily, the satellite images in Google Maps clearly show sidewalks and the dashed lines of crosswalks and the length of Union  Boulevard and Simms Street from the Federal Center to the trailhead of the Lakewood Gulch Trail was okay.

So, I left the train at Federal Center Station and climbed the hill to Union Boulevard, which was a backtrack from my last hike along the W Line. Crossing the light rail and highway 6 turned out to be easy roadwork.
The arch in the distance is the W Line where it crosses highway 6.

Simms Street and the light rail approach each other near the Lakewood Gulch Trail, then the W Line turns east toward downtown Denver. Collins Road crosses Simms there and the trailhead for the Lakewood Gulch Trail is a few steps down Collins in Bellows Park. 

Looking at the Wikipedia article for Lakewood Gulch, I think that might be my ticket from Oak Station to Auraria West Station.

Like all the "gulches" in the Denver area, Lakewood Gulch is an artificial channel for directing storm water through East Denver.  It has been subject to flashfloods in the past.

Occupying the distance between Simms Street and Oak Street is a large medical equipment manufacturing company, Terumo Global. The Greenway that runs through it's grounds reflects the technological focus.

I'm not sure what molecule the tetrahedral model is supposed to represent but it's appropriate given how many biological compounds have the form. Carbon can bond to up to four other atoms and, since atoms tend to space themselves out as far as they can, the tetrahedron is common in organic compounds.

On the far side of the gazebo is a double helix model, I assume, of DNA.

Parts of the trail give nice views of the surrounding area including green Mountain.

The convenience of Lakewood Gulch (for me, at least) is that it crosses side streets that run short distances north to W Line stations. Oak Street was well marked and I took it to Oak Station.
All of the light rail stations and the larger bus stops in Denver display art by named artists...murals, windscreens, and larger works, like the whimsical, Tread Lightly, by Joshua Wiener. The seven steel boats on legs make me think of Baba Yaga's Marina.
The train ride back ended at my home station, Arapahoe at Village Center, and I was surprised to see the water feature at Village Center Tower One operating, so I took some pictures.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the low end of the fountain sheltered under the layer of “earth” it is pushing up. I’m not as happy about the larger end - perhaps it’s too clever? The benches bug me. They seem to be placed for the best plan-view arrangement, not for the pleasure of the sitter. I can just feel my old LA designer self putting them there.

Wolf VanZandt said...

Do you know the background of the fountain? I could find information on the bear and the logs but not the fountain.

Lillian said...

No, it just made my “spidey senses” tingle from my old landscape architecture days.

Wolf VanZandt said...

Heh, that was you? Cool. I agree that it's an awkward construction but I really miss the falling waters in Alabama and Georgia so I get my fix whenever I can. :)