


When the town of Lyons named a winding trail that follows the St. Vrain Creek the ”Governor Hickenlooper Way,” the governor joked: “I’ve never had anything in my life named after me … with a name like Hickenlooper people are going to look somewhere else first every time.”
However, trail walkers like the idea of doing Loops on the Hickenlooper. In June, the air was filled with perfume from New Mexico locusts, and 14 spotted merganser chicks caught a ride on mom’s back. Even over the roar of the water-swollen creek, you could hear a rare rose-breasted grosbeak sing.
A Canada goose family shot the rapids, and you could almost hear them shouting “Wheee!”
Now in July, there are different birds and flowers, but there’s always something interesting going on along a creek.
There are many different access points, but we like to start on Prospect Street about a block east of the South St. Vrain Road (Colo. 7) and finish at the pond on McConnell Drive. You can either do an out-and-back hike of about two miles round-trip, or you can spot a car at either end for an extra-easy one-mile stroll.
Your first stop should be the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens, a block southwest of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Prospect. A path winds around and through five ecosystems from the prairie to the montane. Stop and smell the chocolate flowers; watch the bees and butterflies nectar from the magenta-pink bee balms; and admire the many varieties of pink and blue penstemons. All plants here are Colorado natives.
At the bridge, we recommend a detour going upstream to The Labyrinth where twinkling trinkets and treasures dangle from branches and surprises await. One plaque aptly quotes E. B. White: “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
The main trail follows St. Vrain Creek downstream, passing a children’s playground. In a short distance you come to the confluence of the South and North St. Vrain Creeks. Pink sandstone slabs make a good resting stop.
Near the Lyons Water Treatment plant another trail comes in from your left, crossing the creek on a large bridge. This spur trail starts at a parking area just upstream from 2nd Avenue.
Circle around the Clarifier Community Mosaic, made mostly from broken pieces of China and other items damaged in the 2013 flood, all contributed by local residents. Flood survivors created an artwork — both touching and whimsical — on an abandoned concrete water treatment tank. One tile shows the high water mark of the flood with a dog and a car being swept away. See if you can find the nighthawk, the mergansers, and the owl.
After immersing yourself in the four seasons depicted by the mosaic, continue through a shady avenue of trees to McConnell Drive where a cattail-lined pond stretches out beneath the overpass. (This is where we saw the mergansers and the rose-breasted grosbeak.) Circle the pond and retrace your route. Eventually, the town of Lyons plans to extend the trail to the junction of Colo. 66 and U.S. 36.
This trail is a tribute to resilience. It was built after the devastating flood destroyed so many buildings in 2013. The flood left havoc in its wake, but it also led to rejuvenation. The even-aged stands of young cottonwoods along the creek banks are a symbol of that rebirth. Flooding actually helps cottonwood germination, and these saplings began life 11 years ago in the aftermath of the flood.
Ruth Carol and Glenn Cushman are the authors of Boulder Hiking Trails, available on Amazon.