June 2009 Night Ride Along The Platte River

[Looking at Denver & the Rocky Mountains from E 88th & Washington]

When the moon is full I like to go on night rides. You get a different perspective at night. For this ride I decided on the Platte North of Denver. Most trails are closed after 11 PM but as far as I could tell there is no such restriction on the Platte River Trail.

I made three rides on this route actually. The first was daylight from Denver to E 88th & Colorado (near the end of the trail) where I caught an RTD #88 then a #7 to get back to Denver.

I decided for a night ride I needed to ride the opposite direction. Take the RTD #7 to Washington & E 88th, then transfer to the #88 to E 88th & Colorado.

http://www.rtd-denver.com/

The last bus of the day (RTD 88) drops you off @ 11 PM. The next one isn't until 5:00 AM.

The full moon was Sunday but it was too cloudy. I rode the first night run Thursday but got rained out. I made it as far as Globeville Landing Park.

On Saturday night I was successful. Dropped off at E 88th & Colorado at 11:06 PM the skies were clear and the weather was warm. I had to wait till 12:30 AM for the moon to rise but it was worth it.
As we cover the route I'll include pictures from all three rides. Daytime shots are really helpful.

When you get off the #88 at Colorado you'll see Trail Head Park. There's the path that takes you to the Platte.

Here's a shelter at Trailhead Park.



Good spot for bird watching.

Dusk on the Platte.

OK, so as you head up the path the first landmark is a green deck in the middle of nowhere.



 

It's known as Deck 7. No one knows why.

Looking North towards Deck 7.

Quite a nice deck actually. There's a bench to sit on.

Looking South towards Denver from Deck 7.

Night time at Deck 7.

OK, so after Deck 7 there are a series of benches and picnic tables all along the Platte. I stopped often to look at the river which was running high. You can see stars in the sky too.

bench next to the river.

Picnic table on the trail.

This one's at Confluence Park. The one at Clear Creek & the Platte. There is another Confluence Park where Cherry Creek meets the Platte.

Benches at Confluence Park.

Confluence Park has a picnic shelter on the other side of the Platte. Here's a few pictures.

The bridge over the Platte.

The shelter on the other side of the Platte.

Shelter by day.

Shelter by night. Following the trail back to the bridge if you look to the right just before the bridge you'll see a trail to some stairs.

The stairs lead to a concrete slab next to the river, just across from Clear Creek.

Stairs by day looking towards the river.



Looking up those stairs at night.

Slab next to the river.

Looking up the stairs again.

This is strange. I felt rain drops so I stopped to put on rain gear. I noticed I'd stopped on an invisible line between heavy rain and light rain. This is on the path next to the Burlington Ditch across from Riverside Cemetery.


This was the dividing line between saturated concrete and speckled concrete. The trail to the right was speckled as far as I could see, to the left it was saturated as far as I could see. No trees or fences, this part of the trail was out in the open. About a minute after I took this picture the line disappeared when the light rain eventually saturated the right side. I thought I might be at the leading edge of a rain cloud but a cloud would move. The line was stable till it disappeared. Then I thought it might be an invisible and mysterious ley line. I think that is possible. Why is this the exact place I decided to stop?




Cue Twighlight Zone music.



OK, so miles to go before I sleep.

Big rain drops from under a shelter at Globeville Landing Park. From this spot it was 1000 feet from an RTD #7 stop. I didn't have a schedule because I'd planned to ride all the way back but as soon as the rain let up I raced to that stop and a bus came by within two minutes. They only run evey half hour so I was lucky.



Riding home on 6/11, rain out night. The bike rack on the front of the bus already had two bikes so they let me & my bike in the back door.

The moon on 6/14/09 from the Platte River.

There are two waterfalls of water flowing into the Platte from the Sewer Treatment Plant. That's a lot of toilets flushing.

I grew up in Seattle, our water came from snow in the Cascade mountains and after treatment was dumped into Puget Sound. In the cities past Denver that lie down stream on the Platte, they'll re use and re treat the effluent for the next municipality. Good to live upsteam in this case.
Update April 2010: Heavy rain caused 790,000 gallons of raw sewage to overflow into the South Platte River at this exact spot. Good luck Lincoln Nebraska!

Here's a secret duck blind near the Platte River Trail.

Here's a hint: It's near a pond.

This is the Platte near Franklin Street. They recently lowered the river by 14 feet so it won't flood anymore. They also added an underpass below Franklin.

Lowering the river doesn't mean the bike path wouldn't flood but it was shallow, no problem.

There's the underpass at Franklin Street. This is looking North.

As you get near Downtown Denver you pass this. It originally supported a rail road.




Here it is at night. Spooky...





Riding along the Platte you reach downtown Denver. Night pictures didn't turn out so well.


You go past the most excellent bike/pedestrian bridge.


Platte running high, usually there's a beach there.
Ok, so we're past Confluence Park at Cherry Creek. I'm going to keep going to the Platte River Trail & Alameda. That's my exit.
Those rocks in the middle are markers for a boat chute that you can see better during low flow times. At high water it produces a standing wave a good kayaker can surf.

Well, that's it. The Platte is pretty cool at night. A friend asked me if it was dangerous. No, it's not dangerous as far as hostile people on the trail. There was no one on the trail but me.
I give this ride 4 stars out or 4.