You all know that spot on Federal & 84th, right?

[Markster]

There's this one spot on Federal at 84th where there's a farm on a downslope on the west side. This provides a nice wide unobstructed (no trees, no towers, no buildings) view of the foothills and the mountains. It's a nice spot.

However, the other day I discovered another. I've driven that way before but never noticed it. This time we had some thunderstorms and they were breaking. A break in the clouds drew my eye. A halo of light hit the area around the foothills by the wind farm test center (northwest a bit).

I was on Lowell, heading north. I wasn't yet at 84th, but was probably past 82nd. It was sort of across from the tall radio antenna that's just south of that Church on the Eastern side of the road. There was a break in the trees and a hill dropoff on the western side and it had a perfect view angle looking Northwest up directly at the halo and the wind farm area.

There's nowhere to park or pull over, otherwise I would have whipped out the camera. You almost have to find a place to park and walk there. There's a small dirt path trail on the western side that you could walk to the spot with.

It really was a good photo op. I'm annoyed at myself NOW (in hindsight) for not taking 5-10 minutes THEN to get the proper photo

Live and learn!

 

[markrewald]

Awesome!!! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[puptent]

My old stomping grounds, I went to High School in Northglenn... The field there at 84th and Federal is a famous fireworks viewing area. The church (we always called it the castle) sits on top of the Lowell Blvd Hill, very steep. Oh yeah, there's a little park around there called Hackberry Hill, or Hackberry Park. Also used to be a Girl Scout Camp or something (Campfire Girls?) on top of one of those hills. Just North of 84th, in Westminster is a kind of exclusive neighborhood that sits on top of a hill with amazing views of Denver. There might still be a couple of wheat fields around there from where you can get a good view. If you want a nice night view of Denver, we used to go East to Holly St., and where it crosses, (I think) 136th Ave there is a dramatic hill that drops down into Denver. When I lived out there it was all farm land, and we called it "Holly Hill". Also, there are some nice vantage points around the Jeffco Airport (Old Wadsworth), but I'm guessing that's pretty well developed by now. There are a few vantage points along the Boulder Turnpike that overlook Boulder and the reservoir. Storage Tek sits on a nice hill. Wow, it's not just Fat Tire that makes me homesick...

 

[Steve Smith]

I'm sure we don't all know it but it sounds good though!


Steve.

 

[Markster]

Ran by it again the other day, to double check. It's actually right across from the radio tower, North of 82 but South of 84. You can almost overlook it.

This isn't the well-known wheat fields overlook, but is similar.

Co-worker of mine grew up around here. He knows some of these areas from before they were developed. Says the old church used to be for 'Klan meetings and whatnot, long ago. Had a bad rep for a long time, then naturally they cleaned it up and all that.

It definitely is a landmark!

 

[puptent]

Back when I lived in the area (moved away early '90's -the church ran a Christian radio station out of there, tiny wattage). I'd been told that it was an orphanage at one time. Well, let's all meet at Jim's Burger Haven... Or, we could run over to the Scotchman in Commerce City and have a Hot Cookie!