Hikes 24 to 27 in Colorado - April 2020
Due to the lockdown our four hikes in April for the 52 Hike Challenge were closer to home. Hike 24 was on the green belts from our house to Midway Park in Broomfield. For hike 25 we headed the opposite direction from our house and explored the Crofton Park and Westlake neighborhoods. Big Dry Creek Trail from our house to the Armed Forces Tribute Garden in Westminster was hike number 26. Hike 27 started in Anthem Community Park and followed the Broomfield Trail. Even though we were wearing our masks and didn’t really interact with anyone, the hikes made us feel more connected to our community.
Hike 24 was 10.2 miles with a 300 foot elevation gain in four hours and ten minutes on April 8, 2020. We donned our new face masks on this hike. Our friend Jeannie, an avid seamstress, made the masks for us. Our masks look great, but we found they are a little hot and harder to breath through on a warm, sunny day, like the sunny 60 degree day that day. So we pulled the masks down when no one was in sight to give ourselves a break. Being an urban hike, mostly on sidewalks, we used our daypacks and no trekking poles. In addition to wearing our masks, we used our elbows to push the cross walk buttons as an extra safety step. From our house, we followed the green belt to Country Vista Park, Highland Park, past the library and the 911 Memorial, to Broomfield Community Park, past Emerald Elementary School to Midway Park. Construction work continues on the Broomfield Community Center. A couple was playing frisbee golf in Midway Park. We ate lunch sitting on a foot bridge in Midway Park. After eating, we continued through Midway Park and worked our way over to a green belt that crosses 10th Ave. We took the green belt north to Broomfield Heights Middle School, past Our Solar System (a proportional layout of the planets) and Walk Through Time (rocks representing geological history) and continued to Main St. We were surprised to see Eagle Trace Golf Club was still open and people were playing golf, although they were not using golf carts. Heading south on Main brought us to the historic Brunner Farmhouse in The Field Open Space. The Brunner Farmhouse was built in 1908 and was originally located on the corner of Lowell and 120th Ave as part of the Brunner farm. In 1998, the farmhouse was moved to its current location in the Field Open Space, which is part of what was the Kozisek farm. The farmhouse, which is now used for meeting space and events, is currently closed due to COVID19, but we were able to walk around the house and through its small gardens. After crossing the Field, past Ellie's Pond, we took 7th Ave east a few blocks to reach another green belt path. There was evidence of the small October grass fire near Ellie's Pond. A zig zag on a couple of neighborhood streets brought us to Sheridan. After a couple of blocks north on Sheridan, we turned on a trail into Broomfield Commons Open Space, south of the soccer fields, before heading home. We walked around the burnt marsh area on west side of Broomfield Commons that was victim to the 20 acre fire from the previous Saturday. It seems strange that the two burnt areas we saw were both in marshes. Last we knew there was a pair of coyotes denning in the Broomfield Commons marsh area. We don't know if they were harmed by the fire, but if they are still living in the area, they definitely need to find another den. The wildlife we saw that day were hawks, geese, ducks, meadowlarks, red-winged blackbirds, butterflies, and bees. Along the way, there were lots of messages in chalk on the sidewalks about being kind, staying safe, and being loved. Broomfield's community movement, Broomfield Bikes, had several sidewalk messages as well. We past many decoratively painted park benches along with an art installation in a tree - yarn bombs that looked like birds. We must be getting old and out-of-touch because Right Buddy (RB) had not heard of yarn bombs before, which are a form of graffiti or public art. About half the people out walking, jogging and biking had masks on. Playgrounds, picnic areas, and bike parks were closed and taped off. Most of the sights we saw that day were familiar to us, although we haven’t visited some of them in several years. However, the chalk messages on the sidewalks definitely made our day.
Hike 25 was 5.7 miles with a 170 foot elevation gain in two hours on April 19, 2020. This was another walk down memory lane for us in Broomfield. From our house, we passed by Brandywine Park, Metzger Farm, Crofton Park, and Columbine Meadows Park, where we remember taking our kids to their baseball and soccer games. Taking the green belt towards Alexx & Michael’s Pond eventually brought us to Westlake Middle School where we’ve been many times for our kids school events years ago. Continuing on the green belt, we went through Spruce Park and on to West Lake. The sidewalk around West Lake borders a farm with horses. RB remembers a farm there when we first moved to Colorado, before the neighborhood built up around it. She didn't realize it was still there, as it is now hidden from view from the main road, Lowell Boulevard. Heading a few blocks to the west, we crossed over Lowell, past the Paul Derda Rec Center and into Broomfield Commons Open Space, going by Tom Frost Reservoir on our way back home. It felt rather strange to see the rec center so empty and quiet. The prairie dogs in Broomfield Commons were barking at us. RB remembers the first time she heard a prairie dog barking, when we first moved to Colorado. She was surprised at how closely it sounded like a toy she had as a child. She had a set of nesting blocks, each with a different animal on it. One had a picture of a prairie dog and a push button that made a squeeking noise when pressed, which pushed air through a cheap speaker. Growing up in Ohio where there are no prairie dogs, she didn't realize how much a prairie dog's bark sounds like a squeeze toy! Other wildlife we saw was a turtle, mallard ducks, pigeons, geese, cormorants, house finch, and a northern shoveler. There were quite a few people out walking dogs and kids out riding bikes. It felt good to visit old familiar places and reminisce of good times from the past.
Hike 26 was 9.7 miles with a 265 foot elevation gain in three hours and 50 minutes on April 22, 2020. Big Dry Creek Trail is a National Recreation Trail and is a multi-use trail. National Recreation Trails were established by the National Trails System Act of 1968. They are co-sponsored by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and American Trails, a non-profit partner. We’ve been on several of them before, but didn’t realize they were designated as National Recreation Trails. You can search the database at American Trails to find the ones near you. From our house, we accessed Big Dry Creek Trail by going through Metzger Farm Open Space. We headed south on Big Dry Creek Trail, past College Pond Park near Front Range Community Park, through Westminster City Park to the Armed Forces Tribute Garden where we ate lunch. Now that there is no longer a constant stream of airplanes flying overhead, we notice when one flies over us. A couple of USAF cargo planes flew over us while we were at the Armed Forces Tribute Garden, how appropriate! The trail is paved in some sections and crushed gravel in others. The surprise discovery on this hike was all of the painted rocks near where Cotton Creek Trail branches off. What a great way to brighten up people’s day! There is commissioned art in the underpass at 114th Ave, "Front Range Fade" by Joseph Toney, which is part of Westminster's Mural Program. It was good to see lots of people out biking, walking, and jogging. On our way back during one of our water breaks, we spotted a photographer shooting a white bird perched high up in a tree off in the distance. When he walked by us, six feet away of course, RB asked him, through her mask, if he got a good shot of the snowy egret. He replied that it was not a snowy egret, but a white hawk. A white hawk! That cut the conversation short as RB hurried down the path to get her own shot of the hawk. Googling online later revealed that it was not an albino, but perhaps a leucistic red-tailed hawk. We also saw snowy egrets that day along with hawks, ducks, geese, turtles, red-winged blackbirds, prairie dogs, and an American kestrel. Our hike started out partly sunny with temps in 60’s, but a thunderstorm blew through during the last mile or two. A couple claps of thunder and a few sprinkles quickened our pace the rest of the way home. The hike was proof yet again that surprises await us even on familiar trails.
Hike 27 was 10 miles with a 397 foot elevation gain in three hours and 50 minutes on April 29, 2020. For a little variety, we didn’t start this hike from our house, but drove a couple of miles to Anthem Community Park, still in Broomfield. It was a beautiful sunny day with highs in the 70’s. The view from Anthem Community Park is spectacular, with Siena Reservoir in the foreground and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We started our hike by walking the loop around the Siena Reservoir, then headed south on Broomfield Trail to High Prairie Way. The Spruce Meadows area south of Anthem Community Park seems to be where the better half of Broomfield live, full of large homes on large pieces of land. We saw a basketball court doubling as a tennis court, a bocce ball court, and a swimming pool. And that was just in one backyard of one of the smaller houses. Another backyard contained two ponds, a bocce ball court, a gazebo, and a putting green. Instead of being envious, we were thinking how much effort would be involved in maintaining those large yards and houses. Of course, if you could afford to buy them, you would probably be hiring people to maintain them. But it seemed like a lot of space unless you throw a lot of large parties or have a lot of house guests. Again no envy felt by us introverts. They did however look like a nice place for running a bed and breakfast. Don't ask us why that sounded appealing to us introverts at one time. Upon returning to Anthem Community Park, we pulled our camp chairs out of the van and set them up on the grass overlooking the reservoir with a panoramic view of the mountains beyond. After eating our lunch in our camp chairs, we headed north on Broomfield Trail to Baseline Road. The Broomfield Trail has a tunnel to pass under the Northwest Parkway which is not very inviting. The trail is dirt and gravel at this point and the tunnel is covered with graffiti. The Broomfield Trail follows alongside what looks like an old irrigation ditch. There was no water in it that day, so we're not sure if it is still being used. We past by the Prospect Ridge Academy school with its large colorful artificial turf football field, with not a kid in sight. After we reached Baseline Road, we headed west along Baseline Road on the Bison Trail to Lowell Blvd. From there we meandered on trails that roughly ran along the east side of Lowell, crossing over the Northwest Parkway on the Lowell bridge and back to Anthem Community Park. The houses in the Anthem neighborhood, north of Anthem Community Park, were packed much closer together and of a more reasonable size than the ones we saw in the Spruce Meadows area earlier that day, although none of them are what we would call small. We saw quite a few different birds that day. We seemed to follow a flock of American white pelican from pond to pond. In addition to the pelicans, we also saw great blue heron, red-winged blackbirds, hawks, barn swallows, northern oriole, mallard ducks, grackle, American avocet, and house finch. Anthem has quite a few metal buffalo statues scattered around its parks and trails, which is probably where the Bison Trail gets its name. There were lots of walkers, joggers, and bikers on the trails, about half with masks on. Families were having picnics on the grass in Anthem Community Park. A family was playing soccer in a field in the park, having brought their own portable goals. Another family was fishing in the reservoir. We loved seeing all of the families who were getting outside, enjoying the beautiful parks, and enjoying each other’s company.
Witnessing how communities are creatively developing connections and supporting one another brought smiles to our masked faces. What creative ways are people in your community connecting and supporting each other? Are they writing chalk messages on the sidewalks, decorating rocks with paint, leaving yarn bombs in trees, or howling in the evening? If you haven’t already, get out and explore your neighborhoods. The best way to discover what’s happening in your community is to get out there! Of course, do so safely by following the rules like wearing masks and social distancing.
Check out our related video: Hikes 24 to 27 in Colorado - April 2020
(RB)