The Highline Canal Trail

The Highline Canal Trail is special to me. I have lived in Denver since 1969. It has always been here, winding 71 miles from the foothills to the west, through the city and the suburbs, pouring into a small irrigation reservoir northeast of the metro area. When I moved here, the canal was operational, delivering water diverted from the South Platte River to irrigate crops on the plains. Since then it has been shut down and operated as a ribbon park through the urban region. Every so often, water courses through it, to provide liquid sustenance to the cottonwoods and other vegetation that grows along its path…