On the last day of last August, I resumed my quest to bike all 177 miles of the Denver Orbital Trail. To recap: there are 28 segments, each meant to be walked in a day. Since I’m on a bike instead of on foot, I always covered several segments at a time, beginning and ending at a light rail station. I began this project in early May 2024, starting halfway through Segment 15 in Aurora and traveling counterclockwise. As of my last blog post I had made it to the end of Segment 26 at Majestic View Park in Arvada, and then rolled down a really long, fun hill to the Olde Town Arvada rail station.
For my sixth loop, I decided against picking up the trail where I’d left off. Instead I started at the Golden rail station, connected with the trail partway through Segment 1, and then traveled clockwise through segments 28 and 27 until I was back at Majestic View Park. This way it was mostly downhill and I got to do that long descent into Olde Town again!
This billboard greeted me as I made my way from Golden Station to the DOT. The little paraglider in the picture made me look up, and sure enough…
…there he was!
Next I came to this little building. What could it be?
So apparently there’s a trail here where you can see dinosaur tracks and stuff. I didn’t have time to explore it on my ride, but one of these days I’ll go back and check it out.
Golden is full of beautiful public art. This lifesize sculpture was near the bike trail:
I connected to the DOT near where it crossed Clear Creek.
Saw lots of people out floating. That looks like a fun way to spend a day.
The DOT follows Clear Creek for a while. There’s some nice public art along the trail.
Clear Creek runs though the Coors Brewery…
…so to avoid being Augustus Glooped, but with beer instead of chocolate, this is as far as the floaters can go.
The DOT crosses the Golden Freeway and climbs up Table Mountain. My commuter bike is not made for such off-road shenanigans, so I stayed on Clear Creek trail and traveled parallel to the DOT route.
Table Mountain:
I passed the Colorado Railroad Museum…
…and then made my way back toward Table Mountain to reconnect with the DOT as it comes down. This part of the trail is still dirt and gravel, but my bike handled it okay. Nice pastoral views here.
I came down out of the hills on the Ralston Creek Trail, which finally changed from dirt to pavement at the junction of Segments 27 and 28 near Blunn Reservoir.
Farther down Ralston Creek Trail I discovered the Colorado Tap House, which has cleverly installed a bunch of trail-facing signage and bike racks.
I saw a lot of families with kids who had ridden their bikes there for lunch. I might do that myself sometime.
This tree apparently has an appetite for kites.
More pretty scenery on my way back to Mountain View Park…
…and then that long, giddy roll back down to Olde Town Arvada.
I stopped for lunch at a food trailer…inside a building, which seems like it defeats the purpose of a food trailer, but whatevs.
Took the G line from Olde Town Arvada back to Union Station, where I saw this fancy guy.
This loop covered about 28 miles, not counting train rides. Next up, the 470 Bikeway and Chatfield Reservoir.
An Invincible Summer 