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Best Mountain Bike Trail

Bear Creek Trail

Constructed and opened last year, this little-known gem runs from Pence Park, between Indian Hills and Evergreen, to Lair o' the Bear Park, outside of Idledale. Along the way, it cuts through two other Denver mountain parks, Corwina and O'Fallon. Unlike many of the trails along the Denver-area Front Range, Bear Creek is not just a jumble of rocks. It more resembles the Buffalo Creek Trail that runs along the Colorado Trail to the city's southwest: a smooth, wide, hard-packed-dirt single track, with lots of roller-coastery dips and climbs. If you want to get the hard part out of the way first, take C-470 to Morrison and climb up the canyon to Lair o' the Bear. Start grinding at the west end of the parking lot.

Best Place to Run and Gawk

Highline Canal

Face it: Every so often, running among the alpine splendor, majestic elk and views of the Continental Divide gets, well, boring. At times like those, it's nice to have something civilized to look at. This three-mile stretch of the Highline Canal provides a rare kind of scenery for the jogging voyeur: close-up vistas of the rich and famous. Check out the backsides of 10,000-square-foot mansions! Thrill to six-figure landscaping jobs! They'll never know you were there.

Best Place to Run and Gawk

Highline Canal

Face it: Every so often, running among the alpine splendor, majestic elk and views of the Continental Divide gets, well, boring. At times like those, it's nice to have something civilized to look at. This three-mile stretch of the Highline Canal provides a rare kind of scenery for the jogging voyeur: close-up vistas of the rich and famous. Check out the backsides of 10,000-square-foot mansions! Thrill to six-figure landscaping jobs! They'll never know you were there.

Best Missing Link

Sand Creek Regional Greenway

When this thirteen-mile stretch of urban trail opened to the public last summer -- amid cheers from outdoor enthusiasts -- it marked the completion of a fifty-mile loop in the northeast metro area by connecting the Highline Canal in Aurora to the Platte River Greenway in Commerce City. Now you can take the grand tour: Open to anyone or anything without a motor, the spanking new trail hightails it through the old Stapleton Airport; the lazy cottonwood groves and wetlands along its stretch provide homes to all manner of wildlife, such as mule deer, foxes and waterfowl, not to mention a fine swath of good old peace and quiet. Future trail development includes plans for parks, preserved wildlife habitats, interpretive markers and other backcountry amenities. What a way to go.

Best Missing Link

Sand Creek Regional Greenway

When this thirteen-mile stretch of urban trail opened to the public last summer -- amid cheers from outdoor enthusiasts -- it marked the completion of a fifty-mile loop in the northeast metro area by connecting the Highline Canal in Aurora to the Platte River Greenway in Commerce City. Now you can take the grand tour: Open to anyone or anything without a motor, the spanking new trail hightails it through the old Stapleton Airport; the lazy cottonwood groves and wetlands along its stretch provide homes to all manner of wildlife, such as mule deer, foxes and waterfowl, not to mention a fine swath of good old peace and quiet. Future trail development includes plans for parks, preserved wildlife habitats, interpretive markers and other backcountry amenities. What a way to go.

Best Spot on the Cherry Creek Bike Path

Confluence Park

Heading northwest on the Cherry Creek Bike Path out of the Denver Country Club area, you'll dodge bums, baby strollers and bicyclists, then tackle the impressive rise leading to Confluence Park. Take a moment to catch your breath and enjoy the view -- which often includes several neophyte kayakers rolling over onto their heads in the South Platte, as well as all the mind-blowing construction in the Platte Valley. Now head across the bridge and over to the Starbucks at REI: You've earned your latte grande.

Best Spot on the Cherry Creek Bike Path

Confluence Park

Heading northwest on the Cherry Creek Bike Path out of the Denver Country Club area, you'll dodge bums, baby strollers and bicyclists, then tackle the impressive rise leading to Confluence Park. Take a moment to catch your breath and enjoy the view -- which often includes several neophyte kayakers rolling over onto their heads in the South Platte, as well as all the mind-blowing construction in the Platte Valley. Now head across the bridge and over to the Starbucks at REI: You've earned your latte grande.

Best View From a Park

Inspiration Point Park

From Inspiration Point, at 50th Ave. and Sheridan Blvd. in northwest Denver -- which also happens to be one of the town's best makeout locations, if you still go for that sort of thing -- you can take in the entire Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, without many of those nasty man-made obstacles to mar the view. The sight of all those purple mountain majesties is positively swoon-worthy. Excuse us while we kiss the sky.
  • 17th Ave. and Colorado Blvd., Denver, 80206 Map

Best View From a Park

Inspiration Point Park

From Inspiration Point, at 50th Ave. and Sheridan Blvd. in northwest Denver -- which also happens to be one of the town's best makeout locations, if you still go for that sort of thing -- you can take in the entire Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, without many of those nasty man-made obstacles to mar the view. The sight of all those purple mountain majesties is positively swoon-worthy. Excuse us while we kiss the sky.

Best Endangered View From a Park

Cramner Park

You don't need to look at the sundial that's the centerpiece of Cramner Park to know that time's almost up for this great view. Looking west, you see some of Denver's most elegant homes -- but beyond those homes is a hodgepodge of new construction that threatens to block much of the mountain backdrop.

Best Of Denver®

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