View the Mile High Loop Map
The Mile High Loop was the brain-child of former City Park Alliance Board Member Paul Davis, and with the full support of the Alliance and the Department of Parks and Recreation his dream turned into reality in 2008. The trail, fully completed during the summer of 2009, follows a full 5k (3.1 mile) route, and tracks along the city’s 5280 contour line- so you’re exercising at exactly a mile high!
You can join the trail in many locations, including just behind the Graham Bible House near the 21st & York gate, cutting between Ferril Lake and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (where you can catch the best view in the city), and running parallel to the roadway along the southside of the Park. The trail is made of crusher-fine material, making it both pleasant and comfortable for both walkers and runners.
In 2009-2010 City Park Alliance and the Department of Parks & Recreation will be raising funds and installing signage marking spots at 5280 ft, and hopefully someday historical markers as well. In addition to viewing the link to the map above, you can stop by the sign post in front of the Pavilion in the park to see the route.
I live in a neighborhood that has an off-leash dog park. It is heavily used–which is a good thing. However, it has become a dry dirt patch in the summer and a wet bog in the other wetter months. There is no drinking fountain for the dogs, so owners bring an array of gallon jugs and line them along the fence. I think the City of Denver needs to do a better job at maintaining their current off-leash parks before they even consider adding more: fenced or unfenced.
Dogs who use the off-leash parks are supposed to be licensed. I have NEVER seen any animal control officers ever in the dog park doing any kind of random checking to enforce that provision.
Also, dogs are to be on leash until in the fenced area. I have called animal control a number of times telling them that they need to just stand outside the dog park and ticket the many careless owners who let their dogs jump out of the car, near a busy street, and run unfettered towards the dog park gate. It seems people give animal control officers incorrect information to get out of a ticket. Then, animal control has every right to take their dog and give it back after the owner has paid the fine.
A less punitive measure is to make registering easier–use the dog parks as registration centers once per month. I know a dog needs rabies shots–give them at the dog park with the registration!
I think an unfenced dog park in City Park is a dog/car accident waiting to happen. Many of the propsed areas in the park are near streets where cars and bikes are traveling.
Even if I, as a dog-owner, know that there is a dog park “area” during certain hours and that I should avoid that area, a number of owners will allow their dogs to go unleashed to and from the area–increasing the chances that I might be approached by unleashed dogs.
I think the City of Denver needs to do a better job with enforcement of current rules/laws pertaining to dogs before they branch out to more dog parks. In all the articles I have read about the Dog Park Master Plan, I have yet to hear an argument that convinces me that we need more parks BEFORE correcting the problems we currently face.