Urban trails

Well it has been a little wetter than usual around here. The other day I cut through Ute Valley Park and found some decent patches of mud. With this in mind, I decided today to check out a couple of Urban Trails. I thought that the Cottonwood Trail and the Homestead Trail looked like a good bet since I could access them from the same parking spot. Since this was a hiking / dog day and a bit warm, I checked out a few miles of each.

The Cottonwood trail will in the future stretch from the Greenway Trail east for many miles. Right now the section from the Greenway Trail is nonexistant. I parked at Cottonwood park and went east about a mile and a half. It is a nice, paved trail that would be great for running with stroller, roller bladeing and general family fun. At the start, the park offers many amenities for family fun.
I turned around at Woodmen Rd but the trail continues on from there but will require crossing Woodman and Austin Bluffs.

About 1/4 mile into the Cottonwood Trail section, the Homestead Trail branches off to the right. It is also paved but a little further along, the pavement turns to asphalt in good condition but some cracking is evident. Followed this about a mile where it crosses Austin Bluffs and turned around. The Trail is supposed to go all the way to Academy and Constitution but currently it has a couple of breaks. I plan to explore this one on the bike in the near future.

Both trails work are in urban setting, some open green space helps to make it feel like a trail. Nice for times when the dirt trails are muddy. I will need to check out their conditions in winter to see how they would fair for bad days.