Sloan’s Lake Park hosts the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. photographed by Dawn Jacoby/Colorado Dragon Boat Festival
BOUNDARIES: Sheridan Blvd., 26th Ave., 17th Ave., Stuart St./20th Ave./Lakeshore Dr.
DISTANCE: 3 miles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
PARKING: Free parking is available in lots around the outskirts of the park.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: The 28 RTD Bus runs along 26th Ave.
It has jokingly been called Sloan’s Leak for the amusing way this large urban lake was discovered. In 1861 farmer Thomas Sloan was digging a well for desperately needed water on these dry plains, only to check on it later and find a flood in his fields. By the time it was done gushing, and Denver citizens and Native Americans alike had come out on horseback to watch it, Farmer Sloan had a 200-acre lake where his crops were supposed to be. It quickly became a popular recreation spot and remains so today as Denver’s second-largest park. The Rocky Mountain vista to the west offers gorgeous views, particularly at sunset, and to the east looking over the tree canopies of the Highlands neighborhood is the downtown Denver skyline. Sloan’s Lake itself is ringed by a sidewalk where you see parents pushing their jogging strollers, cyclists zipping past, and pedestrians ambling by; out on the water look for boaters in canoes, kayaks, and sailboats, all with various wildlife splashing around. The park is host to the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, a celebration of Asian cultures and an elaborately decorated boat race across the lake.
Note: As in other park walks, footpaths do cross roads within the park. Please use caution when off the designated footpath. Also keep in mind that there is very little shade along this walk.
Walk Description
Begin this walk from the north side parking lot at 26th Avenue and Tennyson Street by the tennis courts. Walk toward the playground and follow the concrete sidewalk path to the left as it slopes downhill. Continue downhill toward the lake as the concrete path becomes black asphalt.
Kid Tip: This is the first of two playgrounds on this walk! Almost as soon as you start this walk, there is a first playground, smaller than the second, but still a good stop. The second, larger playground is about halfway through, a good spot to stop, rest for a minute, and play!
Cautiously cross Byron Place near 24th Avenue, as this is a regular street with car traffic.
Walk to the concrete path that circumvents the lake and turn right. Keep in mind that this wide path is shared by pedestrians and cyclists. This is your first view of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains to the west. A reconstructed historic jetty with pavilion is on the north side of the lake, with 60 slips for rental boats, just steps from the historic bathhouse and restrooms.
To your right, back across Byron Place, you will notice the hodgepodge of architectural vintages and styles in the houses of this neighborhood. There are trilevel moderns next door to Spanish-style villas and everything in between.
As you approach Sheridan Boulevard, walking west, take note of a sign on your right near a dock. The sign has one historical photograph of boaters in the lake’s early days, as well as detailed information on the water quality. Despite the fact that the lake is open to fishing, boating, and even waterskiing, it is polluted. The lake is stocked with carp, channel catfish, rainbow trout, and more. Permits are required for boating and licenses for fishing, which is only allowed from the shore. Sloan’s Lake does partially freeze over in winter, but it is not solid enough for people to walk on it.
Stay on the path as it curves to the left and becomes parallel with Sheridan Boulevard. Just across this busy street is the town of Edgewater, founded in 1861 and part of Jefferson County. As the Highlands neighborhood has become increasingly popular and pricey, Edgewater has gained new appeal with its proximity to the amenities of Highlands and more affordable real estate. The place with the most history is the 
Edgewater Inn, just a block off Sheridan Boulevard and 25th Avenue (Byron Place becomes 25th Avenue after crossing Sheridan Boulevard), where people come for pizza and schooners of beer in a family-friendly atmosphere. In the newer strip malls along Sheridan Boulevard you’ll find 
Rupert’s at the Edge for a hearty breakfast and 
GB Fish and Chips, where the GB stands for Get Battered and not Great Britain, despite the English food menu.
This stretch of the walk offers the best view of the city’s downtown skyline when you look to the east back over Sloan’s Lake. It was from this vantage point that dreams of making the lake a play land were hatched—over and over again.
Artist Kristine Smock’s sculpture The Denver honors a steamship that once crossed Sloan’s Lake.
Once Thomas Sloan had secured the rights to all of the land that the lake was now on, he developed a prosperous icehouse on the lakeshore. In 1872 he sold and moved away. Although the lake had become a fashionable place for swimming, boating, and ice-skating, plans to make it a more formal park kept falling through. The first of a handful of resorts and amusement parks here was Sloan’s Lake Resort, which opened in 1890, complete with sailboats, rental boats, and a rigged-up barge called the City of Denver. In 1891, all of the resort’s buildings were burned to the ground. But this just opened the door for someone else’s dream, and on this side of the lake the Manhattan Beach Company opened an even grander amusement park later in 1891. With formal gardens, zoo animals, a new sandy beach, a large auditorium, and other attractions, Manhattan Beach was a success. Then in 1908, it too burned up. Next up was Luna Park in 1909, and a main attraction was the Frolic, a three-deck side-wheeler boat. Competition with the other amusement parks in Highlands hastened Luna Park’s demise, and the city bought up the land to eventually turn it into the park it is today.
Backstory: Goose on the Loose
Enjoying that almost year-round sunshine we get here in Denver? You’re not the only one. Turns out the Mile High City’s climate is mild enough to be considered south for migrating Canadian geese. Certainly not all of the thousands of geese populating Denver parks are seasonal visitors; some are actually residents. Either way, these animals are rather messy and can leave the walkways and lawns of parks an unpleasant mess with their droppings.
Try to time your walk with the migration of the geese for the cleanest walk season. In late summer and early fall, the goose population is at its lowest—plus, the temperatures are mild and the leaves are changing pretty colors. It’s likely that goose sightings and droppings will be at a minimum during this time of year. Their numbers explode in winter, and unfortunately that means when the flowers are in bloom and the warmth of summer is coming on, the geese are molting and their population is at its most dense in the parks.
Cross the footbridge as the path again curves left and you will be walking east, parallel to 17th Avenue. You will notice a small fort-style building on the right as the path returns to concrete. This was built in 1923 as the Denver Municipal Trap Club, and members came here to practice their shooting skills with pigeons as targets. After noise complaints forced them to close, the Sloan’s Lake Boxing Club took over the space. On the other side of this building is a memorial for the 
USS Grayling, which was lost with a full submarine crew in 1943 during World War II.
In fall the cottonwood trees, maple trees, and willow trees make this part of the walk very colorful as the leaves go from green to sunshine yellow, orange, and gold. Also, early fall is the best time to walk around this or any other park because the city’s enormous Canadian geese population is at its lowest, so the paths are very clean.
As you approach the next playground area, be sure to stop and read the sign with lots of historical photographs of the park and detailed information about the lake use.
Even after the amusement parks were long gone, into the 1940s people came here for boat races regularly. To see the modern dragon boat races, check cdbf.org for the current festival dates.
The path curves left again as you near West Lakeshore Drive and cross a footbridge. You are now walking north. To your right is Lake Middle School, which opened in 1926 as a junior high school. Architects Merrill and Burnham Hoyt, best known for designing the Red Rocks Amphitheatre (see Walk 27), designed the school. It is a combination of design elements, to be sure, with Tudor arches and parapets, elaborate brickwork, and towers.
The public art 
The Denver, by artist Kristine Smock, is a tribute to the steamship that once drew thousands of visitors to Sloan’s Lake.
This portion is historically called Cooper Lake, a man-made creation formed when a canal was dug from the south side of Sloan’s Lake to a hotel a mile away. The canal was wide enough for a small steamship launch and caused Sloan’s Lake to empty into the low area to the east. This gives the combined lakes an hourglass shape from above. The combined lakes are 177 acres (portions of the original Sloan’s Lake were filled in years ago, shrinking it from its 200 acres).
The rest of this walk in any season offers the most incredible views of the Rocky Mountains, really giving you a sense of the vast length of the 140-mile range visible from the Mile High City. It’s funny that Sloan’s Lake feels like a relatively low flat spot, and the view is so great. There are benches here and there where you can sit and gaze out at the water and mountains, with the skyline at your back.
The island between Sloan’s and Cooper Lakes is a bird sanctuary and off-limits to humans.
The path curves to the left again as you almost complete the loop.
Turn right to cross Byron Place and walk up the hill back to the playground and parking lot. This walk can be combined with Walk 9 by walking east on 26th Street to Perry Street, then north on Perry Street to 32nd Avenue. Or it can be combined with Walk 11 by walking 1 mile on Tennyson Street to 38th Avenue.
Sloan’s Lake Park
Points of Interest
Edgewater Inn 5302 W. 25th Ave., 303-237-3524, edgewaterinn.net
Rupert’s at the Edge 2045 Sheridan Blvd., 720-328-5806, eatatruperts.com
GB Fish and Chips 2175 Sheridan Blvd., 303-232-2138, gbfishandchips.com
USS Grayling Sloan’s Lake Park
The Denver Sloan’s Lake Park