Denver's riverside greenway trails all knot together at Confluence Park

Stand at Confluence Park, where Cherry Creek runs into the South Platte just below downtown, and you are standing at a junction. Two paved trails meet here and follow the water in different directions, and you can walk or ride either one straight out of the city center without sharing the road with cars.

That path did not happen by accident. After the destructive 1965 flood, a committee led by State Senator Joe Shoemaker started reclaiming the neglected river, and that work grew into The Greenway Foundation, a nonprofit by 1976. The southern stretch of the South Platte River Greenway Trail came together in the early 1980s, and the Cherry Creek side kept reaching upstream, eventually including a long section between Castlewood Canyon and Cherry Creek State Parks begun in 1986.

What you get today is a riverside ribbon good for a slow stroll, a commute, or an all-afternoon ride past parks, bridges, and the back side of the city you do not usually see. The river is the whole point, and it is right beside you.

One honest note: this is an urban river, so flows can run high and fast in spring runoff and water quality varies. If you plan to get near the water, the City and County of Denver’s “Recreating in Denver’s Lakes and Streams” page is the place to check first.