June 2010 Platte River Trail detour due to light rail construction

When I rode the Platte to the Lakewood Gulch trail a few posts ago I went past the trail closed signs to investigate what was going on up there. There is an adequate dedicated bike path detour that Platte River Trail users are going to have to use until April 2012.

I got on the Platte River Trail at Alameda going North.                             Denver is a green city. This is a project at Phil Milstein Park.

 Going North towards Denver the detour is just past Frog Hollow Park.

 Here we are, instead of turning left over the bridge go straight ahead.

 It's not very scenic but it is a dedicated bike path. You can see the Platte on your left sometimes but there's a lot of auto traffic.

 It's not the greatest but at least the city of Denver has put up concrete barriers and painted lines down the middle. I love living in Denver. My favorite Denver Park? Red Rocks Ampitheatre.

  The detour bike path follows Zuni St. When you reach 13th and Zuni you'll see the beige strip mall on the right.

 If you ride all the way back to unit M you'll find the Strange Brewery. The name of their tap room is an homage to the movie "Strange Brew" starring the hosers Bob & Doug McKenzie, a movie I loved eh? I wouldn't of found it except like 2% of my fellow Americans my primary news source is the newspaper and I read an article by "Mr. Beer"  Dick Kreck (who is an institution at the Denver Post) who wrote an article about them. Strange Bewing Company is run by two laid off newspaper people and they're open 16 hours a week. Wednesday through Saturday 4 to 8 PM.

 When you get here you're almost back to the Platte River Trail. Hang a Louie here.

 When you get to Mile High Stadium you rejoin the regular trail.  In the next picture there's a fly fisherman in the Platte. Probably just practicing. I don't think the Platte running through Denver would be a good place to fish.

 Bird by river looking for a snack.

 That's the old Lakewood Gulch trail. Less than 1,000 feet up the gulch the trail encounters the RTD Light Rail project. The light rail will go from Denver to Golden. Bike path closed but detour provided.

 Another bird looking for a fish to eat.    My mission today was to travel the Platte River Trail detour and since we're gonna travel it for another two years you might as well learn to love it. The detour is less than two miles.