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Bike trails south of Bear Creek Lake Park

2K views 29 replies 9 participants last post by  SkaredShtles 
#1 · (Edited)
While I was cruising around there yesterday I took a right (south) on what is called "Centennial Bike Trail". It goes up and over Hampden (I think) skirts around some townhomes and stops near some ball fields next to Quincy.

Anyone know of a connector bike path that continues west over or under C470 from that trail, or, heck, any connector anywhere to add miles to my mid-winter rides? I don't know that area and it's fun to explore by bike without traffic. So far I'm looping around BCLP for miles and I'm not complaining.

It's the little spur at the bottom of this map:
 
#3 ·
^ what he said.

after you cross 285 and come out near the townhomes / gas station, look for some power line towers due south. should be able to p/u the paved path at that point which runs alongside 470 south.

alternately you could head the other direction from BCLP (north up rooney for a bit towards bandimere), end up again on the 470 path, up to green mountain.
 
#4 ·
There's an echo in here

Yep, C-470 trail, goes all the way from Golden to I-25. Although, it's pretty sucky east of Broadway. Too many intersections full of suburban SUVs....

Here's my winter playground: Bear Creek Lake Park, Rooney Road, Alameda over the hogback (closed to cars), Morrison, C-470 path down to Chatfield, enjoy the park roads. Add in KC and Willow Springs neighborhoods for variety.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the replies. I know about going north up the path to Rooney/Green Mountain and I can probably make my way over to 470 from Quincy/end of Centennial Trail.

So no one has said anything about this Centennial Trail actually continuing. Hmmm...riding alongside C470 is kind of a noisy affair. Real noisy.

I guess it's gonna be tough to duplicate the BCLP experience, it being so wide open, scenic and traffickless. I can explore a ton of bike paths up near my house in Westminster and can come across neighborhoods I didn't know existed. I was hoping to do the same down south to familiarize myself a bit with the area. It's now or never because I don't ride BCLP in the summer, not with dirt available. ;)
 
#6 ·
xcguy said:
So no one has said anything about this Centennial Trail actually continuing. Hmmm...riding alongside C470 is kind of a noisy affair.
I don't know of anything specifically called the Centennial Trail. Are you talking about the spur at the southwest corner of your map, or the one at the southeast corner? The one to the southwest is the C-470 trail. The one at the southeast, yeah, it doesn't really go anywhere other than riding on Simms.

So yeah, the C-470 trail is kinda noisy, but we roadies tend to tune that stuff out. To minimize it, turn south at Kipling and cut over to Deer Creek Canyon Road, then into Chatfield State Park where you will find more quiet roads. Or turn west when you get to KC, take that around to the south to Deer Creek Canyon Road. That's actually how I commute to work in the summer.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Check out this crop of the map I put in my first post

I'm pretty sure that's the spur I took south. It winds around and goes up over Hampden, around the townhomes. And doesn't continue as far as I can tell. This spur goes south off the BCLP loop just after you go over a little bridge on the south side of the park. And here's a view to the north from that trail with the townhomes to my back:

Does any of this look familiar? A roadie flew past me on my way up this. I tried to catch up with him to see where he was flying to...but he'd already flown.
 
#8 ·
That's it

xcguy said:
I'm pretty sure that's the spur I took south. It winds around and goes up over Hampden, around the townhomes. And doesn't continue as far as I can tell. This spur goes south off the BCLP loop just after you go over a little bridge on the south side of the park. And here's a view to the north from that trail with the townhomes to my back:

Does any of this look familiar? A roadie flew past me on my way up this. I tried to catch up with him to see where he was flying to...but he'd already flown.
You bet, that looks very familiar. I was there yesterday about 1:30, though whether I was flying is debatable. Anyway, Gotdirt had it right. That's what we call the C-470 trail. Go aross Quincy and hop on the sidewalk to the right. That's the bike path. South Jeffco will soon be yours.... Take it all the way to Chatfield and back. If you go down to Titan Rd and return, that's probably around 30-35 miles from BCLP.
 
#9 ·
cartman said:
You bet, that looks very familiar. I was there yesterday about 1:30, though whether I was flying is debatable. Anyway, Gotdirt had it right. That's what we call the C-470 trail. Go aross Quincy and hop on the sidewalk to the right. That's the bike path. South Jeffco will soon be yours.... Take it all the way to Chatfield and back. If you go down to Titan Rd and return, that's probably around 30-35 miles from BCLP.
C-470 Trail=Centennial Bike Trail? Whodathunkit? Anybody out riding flies past me. If it was you, you tore around to the right onto that spur while I was looking at the map on that board. Then you stopped maybe to take a phone call, then went by me on the way up to the overpass. Maybe it wasn't you. I'll try your route next time. Thanks.

I took those pics 'cause I was thinking the residents of those townhomes sure had a nice view off their decks. What a real estate agent might term "forever views".
 
#10 ·
xcguy said:
While I was cruising around there yesterday I took a right (south) on what is called "Centennial Bike Trail". It goes up and over Hampden (I think) skirts around some townhomes and stops near some ball fields next to Quincy.

Anyone know of a connector bike path that continues west over or under C470 from that trail, or, heck, any connector anywhere to add miles to my mid-winter rides? I don't know that area and it's fun to explore by bike without traffic. So far I'm looping around BCLP for miles and I'm not complaining.

It's the little spur at the bottom of this map:
If you want to see a lot of trails of the metro area and how they are interconnected go to geobiking.org
  • On the map tab you will find a .kmz file you can download and open in Google Earth.
  • You can zoom in and follow the trails manually or do fly-bys.
  • You can also display waypoints etc by expanding the tabs and checking the boxes as needed.
  • The site also has slide shows with hundreds of trail photos.
  • If you have a handheld GPS, you can download the trails as tracklogs to follow on trail.
The site has been in existence for over 4 years (some under a different URL).
Over the years the trail network has grown to cover over 1200 miles of trails available for download as 120 tracklogs. I am in the process of a major clean-up of waypoints etc for the site so they match better between Google Earth, Garmin and DeLorme applications and devices. Also have waypoints for 75 Park & Rides & light rail stations that I geo-referenced. Hope to finish the changes and have the site updated in a week or two.
 
#11 ·
xcguy said:
Thanks for the replies. I know about going north up the path to Rooney/Green Mountain and I can probably make my way over to 470 from Quincy/end of Centennial Trail.

So no one has said anything about this Centennial Trail actually continuing. Hmmm...riding alongside C470 is kind of a noisy affair. Real noisy.

I guess it's gonna be tough to duplicate the BCLP experience, it being so wide open, scenic and traffickless. I can explore a ton of bike paths up near my house in Westminster and can come across neighborhoods I didn't know existed. I was hoping to do the same down south to familiarize myself a bit with the area. It's now or never because I don't ride BCLP in the summer, not with dirt available. ;)
From Westminister, come down the South Platte Trail and pick up the Clear Creek Trail into Golden. Nice ride. Once the JeffCo Infrastructure Improvement project is complete (aka Toll Road), you'll be able to ride the Standley Lake path through five points, under Indiana almost all the way down to 93.
 
#12 ·
In one of my posts I mentioned coming up on some ball fields near Quincy. Wrong! What I was seeing was the parking lot (and tall lights) of a Home Depot :rolleyes:

I did ride south past the power station and got on the C470 bike trail on the east side of C470. I could see how a roadie would be able to just rack up the "roadie" miles, just spin and spin and spin. I did my usual slow look around ride. I came up on a huge vacant field full, I'm talking FULL of Ravens (or Crows or Blackbirds). Must have been thousands of them, all squawking and flying here and there.

That's what I'm talking about when I say I just want to explore. I would have never seen that while driving C470. I also came up on "Tipsy's Liquor World" a huge mega liquor store at Bowles. I'll have to stop in there and check out their micro brew section. Again, never knew it was there, never saw it while driving C470.
 
#14 ·
SkaredShtles said:
Tipsy's is pretty new...

It's not really worth driving past Applejack's.
Applejack Liquors used to be my main store. I'd already be down there for a ride at Deer Creek et al. Then Daveco opened up 12 minutes north of me just off I-25. Great selection, great prices. I'd probably only go to Tipsy's if I found the selection "better" than either of those two. Then there's Superior Liquor and Liquor Mart. It all kinda depends on my needs and if I'm already in the area.

I like being able to make up my own six pack for experimental purposes but I'd rather they be cold. Liquor Mart they're warm. Superior Liquor has them cold but not always what I want to check out. Neither Daveco or A. Liq. has a "you build your own 6 pack".
 
#17 ·
SkaredShtles said:
Hey xcguy - don't know if you got my PM about some "exploration" options down that way?
Yes, I did get your pm and yes I've been caught in that area, if you know what I mean! The guy wanted to make me feel like a crook and I did my best to explain to him that his job was bullsh!t.

I was down there again today, tried a ride from my Morrison parking area to the north. 35 degrees plus 35 mph headwinds was too much. One or the other, no prob. I'd be struggling against the constant headwind, face freezing, when WHAM some gust would come and hit me like an invisible brick wall, completely stopping me. F!ck that.

I was thinking about getting one of those face masks that peeps wear to ride in really cold temps in the winter but my theory is if it's that cold that I'd need a face mask...it's just too dam cold to ride. Others may disagree.

And I went to Tipsy's. That's a semi-strange store. Wanting to appear high class, with high class affectations. Prices seem a little high even though I scored a six pack of Out of Bounds Stout for $6.99. They had cold "build your own sixer" but for $9.99. They had a selection of Belgium beers that I know nothing about. You're right, better to stop at Applejack. The vibe at Daveco and Tipsy's couldn't be more opposite.
 
#19 ·
gps_dr said:
If you want to see a lot of trails of the metro area and how they are interconnected go to geobiking.org
  • On the map tab you will find a .kmz file you can download and open in Google Earth.
  • You can zoom in and follow the trails manually or do fly-bys.
  • You can also display waypoints etc by expanding the tabs and checking the boxes as needed.
  • The site also has slide shows with hundreds of trail photos.
  • If you have a handheld GPS, you can download the trails as tracklogs to follow on trail.
The site has been in existence for over 4 years (some under a different URL).
Over the years the trail network has grown to cover over 1200 miles of trails available for download as 120 tracklogs. I am in the process of a major clean-up of waypoints etc for the site so they match better between Google Earth, Garmin and DeLorme applications and devices. Also have waypoints for 75 Park & Rides & light rail stations that I geo-referenced. Hope to finish the changes and have the site updated in a week or two.
Thanks for the link. Your website will come in real handy.
 
#20 ·
"Liquor Mart"

SkaredShtles said:
They are. I have a Liquormart less than 1/2 mile from my pad and would much rather shop there than the weirdness that is Tipsy's. :D
As in the Liquor Mart up in Boulder? I hate to diss anyone's business model. It takes a sh!tload of cash to get any business up and running. Tipsy's went for...what they went for but in today's economy I don't know if it's prudent to be so niche-like. At one time I had more expendable income to blow on "fine wines" but now I'm into Australian and Chilean Shiraz's.
I wish them the best of luck. Maybe they're the only game in their area. Hey, they've got a Walmart nearby. Build a liquor mega-mart, add one Walmart---other ancillary business will come, at least in a normal market.
 
#22 ·
...speaking of Tipsy's, we used to own a liquor store...and one of the many tough lessons we learned was the balance between cost, price, inventory and expenses...and their fickle balance. Based on what I have seen in Tipsys prior to Christmas, I would say they are on credit hold...those shelves are not stocked very deep and I have noticed many holes unfilled for weeks. There may be a fire sale in the near future ;-)

...just my .02
 
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