Hiking High Line Canal Miles 6-8-6, Up and Back Plum Creek

Please note: As of 2020, you can now park at the trailhead, walk to mile marker 7, and take the a Chatfield Park trail across the Plum Creek. You’ll walk northeasterly, crossing the creek, and ending up on the High Line at Mile Marker 14. You can keep walking north on the High Line Canal Trail until you reach the parking lot at the landscaper, which is the trailhead information for segment 4.

Two things were missing on our up-and-back on the Plum Creek: plums and me. I couldn’t make it on this segment, so our High Liners went ahead with the help of my back-up leader Steve, the High Line Canal Conservancy and Walk2Connect. Eight of them saddled up, strapped on their gear and battened down their hatches in the high winds of an early fall day. Unable to park at the end of this segment where mile 9 breaks from mile 11, the High Liners parked at the top of the segment at Roxborough State Park trail head and walked east, then south, and turned back around after finding the end of High Line Canal Segment 10.

No Plums

Despite the name, Plum Creek, no plums were to be had. Although we had eaten them all along the High Line Canal, expectations were spoiled on this namesake. No plums. None the less, the High Liners paced along, holding on to their hats in gusty winds, feeling the affects of the incoming Fall.

Trains and Prairie Views

Whereas segment 9 offered up several trains at which to wave, only one scooted by on this route that paralleled our previous tracks. None the less, wide views across the prairie to the south entertained the high liners until they reached the end of the segment, which was also the end of the trail. At mile marker 9, they turned around to head back up to the start.

And, We’re Back!

After a quick four miles and various texts to the missing leader, the High Liners moseyed back to their cars. No carpooling was necessary. But all were excited to think that the next segment will be the last of 71 miles. The High Liners will walk all the way to High Line Canal Mile Marker 0 in Waterton Canyon. As High Line Canal Segment 10 came to its end, they all promised a grand finale on Segment 11. Who will join us? Sign up here.