By Tom Schweich
When I write one of these articles about Golden’s open spaces, it is very tempting to sit at the computer, read through the databases, pull up the online maps, and sort through photographs from previous years. Yet when I get out of my chair and walk in the open spaces, I often get a clear reminder about the importance of walking them. I learned two important things while walking Parfet Open Space Park last Wednesday afternoon. First, I learned that the common knowledge that the parasailers land on Colorado School of Mines property near US Highway 6 is wrong. When I was watching the parasailers land with a map of land ownership in my hands, I learned that the parasailers actually land on City of Golden land, i.e., the Parfet Open Space Park. Second, while checking out a social trail that connects to Parfet Estates Drive, I discovered a plant called “Winter Fat.” This is a very important winter browse plant for deer, elk and many other species. While this shrub grows throughout western North America, the online databases have no record of it growing in Golden. Yet, here it is! And I found it by walking the land, rather than digging through a computer database.
The City of Golden owns about 14 acres of open space that wraps around the north end of the Parfet Estates neighborhood and overlooks US Highway 6. The land is bordered by the neighborhood, US Highway 6 right of way and Colorado School of Mines land that contains the Chimney Gulch Trail.
Golden acquired this property as part of the Parfet Estates Subdivision in 1994 for “… streets, open space, utilities, and drainage …” It was designated “Parfet Open Space Park” by City of Golden Resolution No. 1573 in 2005. (This is different from Parfet Park at the corner of Washington Avenue and 10th Street.)
While the defunct Welch Ditch crosses this land, the only other “facility” found on city land is a windsock to help the parasailers land safely.
An unmarked trailhead on Parfet Estates Drive leads to a social trail from the neighborhood down to the Chimney Gulch Trail located on Jefferson County Open Space land. This trail continues upward to Windy Gap and Lookout Mountain.
Parfet Open Space Park contains a mix of disturbed and undisturbed land with some remnants of native vegetation, notably the Winter Fat noted above. Winter Fat — Krascheninnikovia lanata (Pursh) A. D. J. Meeuse & Smit. — is named after Stepan Krasheninnikov, 1711-1755, a Russian botanist, professor in Saint Petersburg, and explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka in the early 18th century. The genus is the Chenopodiaceae, the Goosefoot family, which comes from the Greek words "chen" meaning "goose" and "pous" meaning "foot," because the leaves are often shaped like a goose foot. This family is interesting to me because they show the biogeographical connection of western North America to the steppes of eastern Eurasia.
There are abundant signs (i.e., poop) of elk and other large mammals in Parfet Open Space Park, though seeing them may be uncommon because of the adjacent busy highway.
From the site, there are excellent scenic views of the Rocky Mountain foothills, North and South Table Mountains, and north through Golden Valley.
The name Parfet Open Space Park is a little confusing. It is an Open Space? Is it a Park? We are now revising our Park & Recreation Master Plan while simultaneously writing our first Open Space Master Plan. See Path to Play on Guiding Golden. My suggestion is that this is an Open Space and not a Park. Therefore, we should shorten the name to the Parfet Open Space or perhaps rename it Parfet Estates Open Space.
