Early in the ride, I caught a trail that follows the South Platte River to downtown Denver, then another trail along the Cherry Creek out of the city. Both trails were lower than the surrounding areas, so it was kind of difficult to tell where I was. By the time I realized I was in Denver proper, I was already past downtown. It was kind of a slow ride. There are multiple trails that intersect and intertwine with each other, so I had to constantly check my phone to make sure I stayed on the right route.

The trail along the South Platte ran through a very large prairie dog colony, or possible multiple colonies close together. Once I got out of the downtown area, the Cherry Creek Trail also ran through several prairie dog colonies. It made me wonder if there are more prairie dogs in the area than people, like rats in New York City.

The South Platte trail had an unusually mix of people using it. There were of course joggers and people jut relaxing on benches along the trail. There were cyclists out for casual rides, some for training rides, and MAMILs (middle aged men in Lycra). There were also a couple of places where some homeless had set up camp.

I rode through downtown Denver during lunch hour, so the trail was awfully busy. Several miles south of downtown, the trail started going through rural areas, with suburban neighborhoods kind of spread apart. The suburban homes were huge, some as much as three stories and taking up most of the building lot. I kept trying to figure out why someone would want a home that big. Because it was a slow ride, I ended up stopping in a suburb south of Denver for the night without making much progress.