Denver's Bike Paths: MAY 2013 WHAT'S NEW IN LAKEWOOD GULCH?

I took a ride up Lakewood Gulch today. I wanted to see the new path along the new light rail.

At Alameda and Lipan there is a big pole for a future stop light. I predict there are extreme changes ahead for this intersection.

The Platte was running pretty good today. It got warm, into the 80's.

The Platte is mostly flat.

The gate was open today. The fountains were not operating though.

Phil Milstein Park. Lakewood Gulch 1.3 miles.

Nice mural on a building.

Coming up on the old Gates Rubber plant. Mile High stadium in the distance.

Another mural.

The water from Lakewood Gulch joining the Platte.

Looking up Lakewood Gulch.

The light rail going over the Platte.

Then I saw something very unusual. A bunch of guys on police motorcycles being led by uniformed Denver Police. Just cruising along the bike path. I took some pictures.

There were two decked out DPD bikes and the rest were the same make and model without the Denver Police extra equipment. They don't even have headlights. So are they new bikes before customization or old DPD bikes stripped before being sold?

I favor the latter theory and believe the new buyers were being offered a police escorted tour through scenic but not normally allowed routes. The headlights came off with the police farings I suppose.

That's something you don't see every day. Or ever. Now we head up Lakewood Gulch.

I took quite a few shots of the new light rail route. It's new, it's cool.

Coming up to Federal now, there's the baseball diamond ahead.

The baseball diamond in 2008. Use power towers to orient yourself. There's that crappy Federal street bridge too.

Looking down the foul line towards the bleachers.

The old score board still works. Old coexisting with new.

Looking under the new Federal bridge. Wow that is really nice. The old bridge was really bad.

The old Federal bridge, 2008.

A bridge over the light rail.

Another shot of the train.

We had a really wet April. I had to mow my lawn this morning too. Wet is good.

Heading up Lakewood Gulch to the Knox station.

Throughout all the construction the water feature was not polluted, although portions went through pipes for a while.

USGS stream monitoring station.

Ditto.

Looking at the Knox street station 2013. Below you can see various stages of construction.

Here's how it looked in 2008. Use the waterfall, power towers and the brown building as a reference.

Water went through pipes here once upon a time.

2008 shot, pipes carried the water.

2008 picture showing the pumps sucking the creek dry. Notice the same brown building for reference.

Bike path on the left, light rail on the right, water in the middle.

That's a nice hole in that tree. Something lives in there but I didn't get close.

Cruising up Lakewood Gulch.

Light rail tracks next to bike path.

This is the same view in 2008. See the white stripe on the power pole. Now the path passes right next to it.

RTD light rail.

New trestle.

Here's the old trestle, 2008.
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The underpass at Sheridan. You used to cross at street level. Now the road goes over the train tracks. Note the big parking garage on the left.

The sign hasn't moved but the road sure has. Sheridan above today (2013) versus Sheridan below 2008. Same sign. Same location. My oh my what changes.
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There's the Sheridan bridge under construction May 2010.

Elevator to track level.

The trail stopped at Sheridan because of construction. I took the elevator up to Sheridan and went around it.

Apparently this is the exact line between Denver and Lakewood. Almost like four corners.

There's the construction zone next to the new parking garage at Sheridan.

A one block detour got me back to the trail.

Not so much a trail as a road that is no longer used.

A victim of eminent domain, this structure lost it's access over the old train tracks when the light rail came through.

They used to be able to drive over the tracks.. This picture is from 2010.

Quiet corridor suddenly very active. This is from 2010. This is the blue building on the right that is seen in the distance after the next pic.

They cut some trees that had grown into the fence.

Looking down Lakewood Gulch. Big white building is gone now. Blue building still there.

Same view in 2008:

Same view in 2011, you can see the white building on the left in both pictures, blue building too.
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Same spot February 2012:

Looking the other way today I see a new bike path. Better check it out.

A train came by.

Heading up the new trail.

New residential units being built near a station.

You cruise on a road for a bit then back on the trail.

The trail went quite a long way along the new route.

Train at Harlan and W 13th.

Looking under the tracks

The trail kinda petered out at Kipling. I followed a road for a bit and found a trail along the Lakewood Ditch.

It was not a good path. I don't like roads.

As long as I was near the tracks I figured I'd keep going.

13th and Nelson

Another shot of the train.

I tried to follow the tracks but this is near where the train crosses over 6th and back. I'm not sure exactly how to go any farther. Next time I will explore farther.