Van Bibber Park - 1/2017
photos by Barbara Berryman
photos by Barbara Berryman
Barbara Berryman -
What a difference a day makes! After a mild start to the new year, it was 24 degrees and snowing lightly this morning! New trail for Lumpers, part of the great Jeffco Open Space system. Van Bibber Park just west of Ward Road. The fertile soil in and around Van Bibber Park became the settling place for many homesteaders between the 1850s and 1870s and so the farming community of Arvada was born. Crops included wheat, oats, corn, hay, and strawberries. |
Today bikers, hikers, and equestrians can reap the bounty of a peaceful escape from the suburban life. Van Bibber Park takes its name from Van Bibber Creek, named for a homesteader who settled somewhere east of the mouth of Ralston Canyon. Just east of the park, Van Bibber Creek was also called Dry Creek, because it dried up just short of joining Ralston Creek.
As Sigrid pointed out on Facebook, we usually do not go off-trail, but parts of the main path were very icy today and the grasses seemed much more stabilizing. |
Sigrid Frese -
To get to Van Bibber Park, the main parking lot off of Ward Rd just south of 58th Ave. take I-70 West to exit 266/Ward Road. Head north on WArd Rd until you see the park on your left. Address is 5575 Ward Rd, but apparently you can't turn left from north bound Ward into the parking lot, so figure out where best to make a U-turn, then come back south and park will be on your right. |