LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Park rangers are keeping their eyes on the sky as a week full of rain could mean more flooding around Chatfield, Cherry Creek and Bear Creek Lake reservoirs.
Flooding has ended all motorized boating, some fishing and most trail use at Bear Creek Lake.
“What we see is a 30- to 40-foot rise in our lake level, which puts a lot of our facilities under water,” Lakewood Parks Supervisor Drew Sprafke said.
Nearly two weeks straight of rain means the reservoir peaked at 40 feet beyond normal Saturday, submerging roads, drowning parking lots and picnic shelters, and closing about half the multiuse trails.
“It’s torn up the trails pretty well,” said bicyclist Mark Berghoefer of Highlands Ranch.
He’s riding at Chatfield instead, where the reservoir peaked just 8 feet above normal, taking out some restrooms but leaving most recreation in place.
“You’d be in mud. You could not pedal your bike. It would be bad for the trail too. So you don’t want to do it. You just have to be patient,” he said about Bear Creek.
But rangers there are feeling more anxious than anything.
“Hopefully, we won’t get a huge onslaught of rain and get a chance to recover,” Berghoefer said. “But if we get hit for another week, it could be an interesting ride.”
The last major flooding happened in 2013 and cost $372,000 in repairs to structures, trails and the creek.
“There are certainly impacts on the park. That’s why there are parks there and not developments or houses,” said Joe Maxwell with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which manages the reservoirs.
He said their sole purpose is flood control, to keep water from raging into creeks in metro Denver. This is the way it’s supposed to happen.
“It’s all part of the design. But it does inconvenience and does cost some money to clean up,” Maxwell said.
And for recreationists, it’s a little limiting.
“Then, you think about the wild flowers that’ll be coming out soon … so there’s not too much to complain about,” Berghoefer said.
And the ducks aren’t complaining either.
Monday the reservoir level had dropped from its peak of 40 feet down to 38.6 feet. Maxwell estimates Bear Creek’s water levels will return to normal in about a month.