Walking Denver

Begin at the park’s original entrance on the north side where Marion Street Parkway and Virginia Avenue intersect. More than once I have driven up to

Washington Park on a sunny weekend and, when seeing the many joggers going by, thought to myself, “Uh-oh! There must be a race today.” But no, it’s like that all of the time in this park. Rollerbladers, kids learning to ride their first bicycle, moms and dads pushing strollers, bicyclers, pedestrians in deep conversation or listening to music with their headphones, dogwalkers, and most of all, joggers, fill the many roads and trails in Washington Park. As you walk you will mostly hear the slight scrape of running shoes against the pavement or gravel, along with people talking and laughing as they play and exercise here.

Facing the

Dos Chappell Bathhouse, walk around the right side of the building, using the pedestrian lane of the road. The Craftsman-style bathhouse opened in 1911 and served as changing rooms for swimmers in Smith Lake in summer, then as a warming house for ice skaters in winter. Once swimming and ice-skating were no longer allowed on the lake after 1957, the bathhouse fell into disrepair for many years until a renovation in the 1990s when it became offices for the Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. It is now named after VOC’s founder, Dos Chappell.

Veer left to join a footpath behind the bathhouse that circles the lake, and continue walking south. From here you get the sense of the wide-open space of this park as you look left over 16-acre

Smith Lake. The lake is named for John W. Smith, who created not only the lake (a natural depression that may have been a buffalo wallows) but also a ditch that runs through the park, historically called Smith’s Ditch and now renamed City Ditch. Completed in 1867, the ditch made it possible for water from the South Platte River to be diverted about 25 miles downstream to Capitol Hill and changed the arid plains to a lush and hospitable place to grow the city. Today the water for City Ditch comes from a different source than the South Platte River.

On the lake’s south side is the boathouse and pavilion, built in 1913 and designed by architect J. J. B. Benedict (see Walk 25) and restored in the 1980s. Today, boat and bicycle rentals are made from a booth next to the boathouse, and you might be able to see Long’s Peak to the northwest and Mount Evans to the west from the boathouse.

Kid Tip: If the boats and bikes aren’t out when you are doing this walk, then just across from the boathouse is a huge playground that I think is just as fun as the bikes and boats.

As you begin to walk toward the

Washington Park Recreation Center (an indoor pool means that there is still swimming allowed at Washington Park, just not in the lakes), stop at the large sign with historical photos and details about the park’s founding.

Cross the road as you turn left and walk into the flower garden. In a mild year, there is a very good chance you will see flowers still blooming in fuchsia, violet, gold, and all the colors of the rainbow into October. It’s a little bit quieter in this flower garden since runners stay on the main artery roads.

Go right on the paved path to walk south along the park’s Great Meadow. This area is a combination adult and child play area where volleyball nets are set up and people are playing Frisbee and soccer—all at once—on this huge grassy field not crossed by the park’s many trails.

Turn right and cross the road toward

Grasmere Lake at the second playground.

Kid Tip: During the walk toward the second—and smaller—playground, I like to climb the trees and watch/feed the ducks in the lakes.

This man-made lake on the park’s south end is named for England’s own lake of the same name and town where poet William Wordsworth lived. Wordsworth was one of the Lake Poets, known for their English Romantic style, and the hope in designing this park was that it might inspire “literary and artistic achievements.”

Turn left after you cross Smith’s Ditch to walk east with the lake on your right and the ditch on your left.

Turn left between the hedges of Mount Vernon Garden, modeled on Martha Washington’s Mount Vernon Upper Garden. This small formal garden is also off the beaten path from joggers and cyclists.

Turn right to walk on the road or cross the road and join the footpath again as you head east out of the park. Yes, you can explore the entire park and there is more, but this walk exits here for a miniurban detour . . . or maybe just lunch, if you didn’t bring a picnic.

Cross S. Franklin Street as you begin walking east on Mississippi Avenue (the road leading out of the park). The bungalows of Washington Park were primarily built in the 1920s and 1930s during a building boom for this area that used to be the town of South Denver. As you walk on these side streets on a weekend with mild sunny weather, chances are good you’ll see more pedestrians than cars along your way.

Turn left on S. Gaylord Street, Washington Park’s hub of restaurants and shops. Old South Gaylord Street bills itself as the second-oldest shopping district in Denver. Before you head down the block, make a note of two restaurants across the street—

Washington Park Grille, a neighborhood favorite for contemporary Italian food for lunch or dinner, and

Devil’s Food Bakery & Cookery for fresh baked goods and savory meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

On the west side of the street is

Wish Boutique for women,

Trout’s American Sportswear for men, and

Sports Plus for gently used and gently priced sporting goods for the whole family, as well as art galleries and other shops.

On the east side are more restaurants:

The Tavern Wash Park with a busy bar and American classics like burgers, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, and salads; and

Homegrown Tap & Dough, which uses locally sourced ingredients for pizzas, burgers, pastas, and more. There are additional restaurants here to try depending on the time of day, whom you are with, and what you crave.

Continue walking north on S. Gaylord Street as it returns to residential blocks only.

Kid Tip: Even if you’re excited to get back to the park, this next stop is worth the time. If you follow the instructions below, you’ll end up at Bonnie Brae Ice Cream—my second-favorite place for ice cream in Denver.

Turn left and cross Ohio Avenue. You are on the outer edge of the Bonnie Brae neighborhood with two eponymous places to try:

Bonnie Brae Ice Cream and

Bonnie Brae Tavern, both longtime Denver institutions for this neighborhood. On hot days, there is a line out the door for Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, and the tavern has pizza often declared the best in Denver. On the opposite corner you will see the

Eugene Field Branch Library, named for the popular children’s author (more on his Denver connection coming up).

Turn around and walk west on Ohio Avenue about eight blocks back to Washington Park. Just before turning right into the park, you will see some white buildings on the left. These are the Whitehead Brothers Farmstead buildings from 1892 when the park was mainly their farm. Since then they’ve served as housing for park superintendents and are now used for park maintenance facilities.

Walk north on the path to the

Eugene Field Cottage. Field came to Denver in 1881 to work as managing editor for the Denver Tribune and lived in this little house when it was located on W. Colfax Avenue across from the U.S. Mint at Denver (see Walk 2). Field spent only two years in Denver but was well loved for his children’s poems, such as “Little Boy Blue” and “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” by the time Molly Brown (whose own historic home can be seen on Walk 1) stepped in to save his home from demolition in the 1920s. It was moved to Washington Park and turned into a branch library, then closed to the public when the new one opened on University Boulevard in 1970. It is not open to the public and is used for civic organizations.

Follow the path as it curves around Eugene Field Cottage and you will see the “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” statue on the other side that evokes the characters from Field’s well-known children’s rhyme.

Turn left to cross the road and join the path as it curves around Smith Lake to the right. As the path curves left and west around Smith Lake, peek over to the right to see Lily Pond, a fishing hole for kids only.

Take the right fork when the path divides. This will take you back to the starting point in front of Dos Chappell Bathhouse and the end of the loop.

Points of Interest

Washington Park S. Downing St. and E. Louisiana Ave., 303-698-4962

Dos Chappell Bathhouse 600 S. Marion Pkwy.

Smith Lake

Washington Park Recreation Center 701 S. Franklin St., 720-865-3400, denvergov.org

Grasmere Lake

Washington Park Grille 1096 S. Gaylord St., 303-777-0707, washparkgrille.com

Devil’s Food Bakery 1020 S. Gaylord St., 303-733-7448, devilsfooddenver.com

Wish Boutique 1071 S. Gaylord St., 303-733-4848, wishdenver.com

Trout’s American Sportswear 1077 S. Gaylord St., 303-733-3983, trouts.net

Sports Plus 1055 S. Gaylord St., 303-777-6613, sportsplusdenver.com

The Tavern Wash Park 1066 S. Gaylord St., 303-733-0350, tavernhg.com/wash_park

Homegrown Tap & Dough 1001 S. Gaylord St., 720-459-8736, tapanddough.com

Bonnie Brae Ice Cream 799 S. University Blvd., 303-777-0808, bonniebraeicecream.com

Bonnie Brae Tavern 740 S. University Blvd., 303-777-2262, bonniebraetavern.com

Eugene Field Branch Library 810 S. University Blvd., 720-865-0240, denverlibrary.org

Eugene Field Cottage 715 S. Franklin St.