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Print Friendly MapClosure Notice: There are two active closures along Farmers' High Line Canal Trail, one at US 85/Santa Fe for the installation of a new pedestrian bridge, and the Elati Pedestrian Bridge, which is being replaced. See High Line Conservancy for more up to date information.
The Farmers’ High Line Canal Trail provides an easy, pleasant way to traverse the northern suburbs of Denver. The paved pathway stretches more than a dozen miles, connecting Westminster, Northglenn, and Thornton. The trail's name comes from the historical canal, built in 1860s, that the trail follows for much of its journey. Views are a mix of quiet, tree-filled neighborhoods, bustling shopping and dining areas, and natural open spaces.
With its numerous connections to parks, schools, commercial areas, and other trails, the trail provides an important local commuter route. From the southern terminus of the trail, it's only a short distance to reach the 10-mile Little Dry Creek Trail. The canal trail also connects to the US 36 Bikeway, which spans 16 miles between Denver and Boulder, and, in Westminster City Park, a short spur links the trail to Big Dry Creek Trail, a 12-mile pathway between I-25 and Standley Lake.
Parking is available at several of the parks along the route (from west to east): Kings Mill Park (9018 Field St., Westminster), Westminster City Park (10455 Sheridan Blvd., Westminster; restrooms are also available here), Northwest Open Space (2100 W. 112th Ave., Northglenn), and E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park (located across from Northglenn's city hall at 11701 Community Center Dr.).
Ran into construction along the trail at about Washington and 124th so we had to detour past the Eastlake train station and a little south. This is one of my favorite rides and connect 6 trails to make a 16 mile loop.
No where near Cherry Hills or Greenwood village.
Beware Cherry Hills and Greenwood Village portions of this trail. These jurisdictions have banned ebikes and are bike police monitoring
We explored a short 2-mile section near the middle of the Farmers' High Line Canal Trail. We began at Margaret's Pond in Westminster, where there is a small parking area, and then biked to the Northwest Open Space in Northglenn. This segment was all concrete. At first, we just traveled along the trail paralleling Legacy Ridge Parkway through a pleasant neighborhood, but the trail really got fun when it turned off the roadway to parallel Niver Canal. We enjoyed having the babbling canal by our side and saw redwing blackbirds and many other birds swooping through this area. At Federal Boulevard, take a moment to look down the roadway to the "Savery Savory Mushrooms" water tower, which is styled to look like a giant can of mushrooms and dates back to 1925. At the underpass for the boulevard, you'll see the trail's name posted, but there was no other trail signage along the route. Just past this point, we took a little detour around a pond and saw a pelican, cormorants, and ducks. We continued down the trail a short distance farther, still closely following the canal, to the Northwest Open Space, where we turned around and headed back.
Overall, this is a pretty good urban trail.
Pros: Pretty well shaded, well marked in most places and lots of places to access or exit the trail. Great views of the mountains around Pecos and Federal when running westbound.
Cons: There are a lot surface-level street crossings starting at and east of Huron St. Trail runs next to busy roads for stretches.
I did this path on a long board and it was not as described, this path is not all concrete. There is one one section that has about a mile of crushed stone which is not so good on a long board. Signage is also extremely poor if non existent which made this path hard to follow at times. There were some pretty good sections that were really fun for carving but overall this path is not one that I will do again.
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