Cherry Creek State Park

Across from our hotel in southeast Denver is Cherry Creek State Park, which sits behind a big earthen dam. The park features savannah like grasslands with ample ruggedcottonwood. Today's weather has been in the forties. Beautiful for a hike through the park, although occasional ominous clouds hung over the city of Denver to the north.

The reservoir behind the dam was frozen, although the edges were thawing today. The ice was above water for several seconds, then below the water for several seconds, which indicated to me that there was wave action going on underneath the ice even though there was no open water. 

Some moss seems quite alive in the water along the shore. 

These small oak formed a nice profile against one of the turbulent clouds. To make certain you don't think this is a rural scene, the top of a light tower shows in the crotch of the tree on the left. The roar of the traffic from the street the light illuminates is very audible throughout the park.

The top five out of eleven floors of the Red Lion Hotel rise above the earthen dam. Difficult to tell that there is a four-lane street running between the park and the hotel. 

I am always fascinated by very large public works projects like dams. They remind me of the ambitious projects taken on during the Great Depression and in the decades thereafter. With the proper tinting, the pictures can look as if they are from the 1930s. (Notice the tiny humans out on the ice on the left.) There is an eeriness to these massive dams and power plants. Once crawling with activity, bustling with humans now long dead, the dams are today utterly empty and barren.