Hikes closer to home than you think
Jagged peaks clamoring for the skyline. Snow clinging to shade through summer. Pristine alpine lakes reflecting the entire landscape.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 70.
This scene is what plenty of Denver denizens might picture when they think of hiking. But Chris Englert, author of “The Best Urban Hikes: Denver,” has a different take. She believes “urban hiking” can happen close to home, right in the heart of the city. “An urban hike is along a trail ... and it’s probably only 10 minutes away,” she said. “There are probably 40 within the Denver area.”
An urban hike is also more than taking the dog out for a quick walk. “An urban hike has a sense of adventure to it — you take a left where you might take a right,” she said.
Englert will be at the Tattered Cover’s Aspen Grove location on Saturday to talk about urban hiking and her adventures while walking all 78 of Denver’s neighborhoods in 2017.
Englert said she’s always been a walker, but a walking tour of Moscow a few years ago inspired her to walk more and even make a vocation out of it. (She runs walking tours via her site, eatwalklearn.com, and is a walking leader for Walk2Connect.) The tour guide asked her what she wanted to see. “Red Square” was the expected response, but instead, Englert asked her what she wanted to show her. They strolled through the neighborhoods around Red Square, and at the end of the tour, her guide refused payment. “She said, ‘I just want people to experience my city the way I see it.’ ”
She had moved to Denver in 2013 and wanted to make a business out of walking but felt she couldn’t start that here without walking all over town. So she
spent last year walking all of Denver’s neighborhoods. “Not being from Denver, I didn’t really have any pre-judgement about any neighborhood before walking it. Which was a benefit, because it didn’t jade me for where I should or shouldn’t go,” she said. “Every neighborhood, whether it was a Highlands or a Westwood, it didn’t matter which neighborhood it was, they all had positives and negatives.”
Her resulting e-book, “Walking Denver’s Neighborhoods,” covers safe routes through all 78 neighborhoods and includes historical tidbits and quirky stops.
Before you head out to hike, Englert offered two tips: Fancy gear isn’t needed for urban hiking, but having water with you is helpful; and don’t let the cold weather stop you, because winter is a great time to hike or walk. “I find that a lot more people walk with me in the wintertime,” she said. “Just put on the right clothes and you can walk any time of the year.”
Ahead of her talk at Tattered Cover, Englert shared three of her favorite urban hikes around Denver.
9 Creeks Loop: This 41-mile mega-loop is too long to walk in one go, so Englert’s book breaks it into eight shorter segments. “It’s a 360 view of the city, it’s awesome,” Englert said. “It goes through nine watersheds of the city and hits on the four major trails of the city” — the High Line Canal, the Sand Creek, Cherry Creek and Platte River trails. This 5-mile hike in Thornton starts at a prairie dog town, passes through rolling hills and cottonwood groves and gives hikers amble opportunities for beautiful Front Range views. “A lot of people don’t think of going to Thornton to hike,” she said. “It’s a nice surprise.”
Norfolk Glen Loop: This 5.5-mile hike on the edge of Aurora starts at Star K Ranch. “You see deer and coyote and beavers, and you’re within a half a mile of Colfax the whole time,” Englert said.