Tour d’ Open Space
On Saturday, October 30, PLAN-Boulder treasurer John Spitzer will lead us on the 13th Annual Tour d’Open Space (originally known as the Circumnavigation of Mountain Parks and Open Space). It will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Dowdy Draw Trailhead near Eldorado Springs. Lunch will be on your own at Chautauqua, and the Tour ends back at Dowdy Draw later in the afternoon.
The Tour was founded by John in 1997 to help create support for a .33 cent per $10 extension of a sales a use tax to fund a $45 million bond issue to buy open space land. It attracted about 100 participants and included a barbecue lunch and speeches by luminaries at Chautauqua. Since then it has been continued by a handful of die-hards on a much diminished scale in late October every year except 2008.
The Tour consists of a 38 mile bicycle ride and a 7.5 mile walk in a giant loop around the periphery of the City of Boulder’s open space holdings. It traverses Marshall Mesa, the Flatirons property, Teller Farms, Whiterocks, Gunbarrel Hill, the Boulder Reservoir property, Boulder Valley Ranch, Wonderland Hills, 4th Street, and a final leg on the Mesa Trail. Bring a mountain bike, water, snacks, sunscreen, and lunch if you don’t want to buy it at Chautauqua. Those who want to do the bike ride only can lock their bikes at Chautauqua and arrange for a car shuttle back to Dowdy Draw.
