Star K Ranch Open Space

Great little trail for a Sunday afternoon stroll with the family and walk the dog. We had the trail to ourselves except for a family of four on bikes. Its a very peaceful level walk right in the heart of Aurora. You can occasionally here some traffic noise in the distance but for the most part its extremely quiet. There were hundreds of grasshoppers with bright yellow wings hopping all around and a lot of sunflowers. The trail is not quite a mile long so we took a little diversion and walked down to the "Creekside Trail" to extend our walk. We will definitely use this trail more frequently for those days that you want to get in a quick walk nearby the city.

Very large and open city/prairie park right out of downtown aurora. There's a lot of space here to walk and enjoy nature. I've seen hawks, deer, coyotes, and even a bald eagle! It's fun to go and watch the seasons change. There are some big old trees here and the stream area is nice. Like many parks in Aurora, it is suffering from a trash problem. They are also doing some water construction at the moment so some trails are closed.

This wonderfully unkempt park and nature preserve is an unexpected delight tucked behind the Smith Road blight of industry and railroads. Serene and little used, a sunny day in August and I was the only person I saw in a two hour walk through hundreds of acres. While the solitude can be broken at times by the not too off I-70 interstate and airport, there are sunken areas of wetland, filled with cat tails, reeds, butterflies and frogs and you'll likely see deer. And despite its untouched vistas of browning grass and broken trees, the paths are well marked and well kept.This is a great place to go for contemplation or a gentle walk without throngs of people.

We went to the star k ranch today for a field trip for my sons pre kindergarten class. Joy was our tour leader/ teacher. She was awesome. Very knowledgeable and engaging and funny. It is hard to keep 15 4-5 year olds interested and she was able to keep them involved and having fun the entire time! What a perfect first field trip experience for my son. This nature center is tucked in the north east bit of Aurora. I've lived in Aurora for 34 years and never knew about it. It's a small little center, but it is so lovely and the staff obviously loves their jobs. I can't wait to see what else we can join in and participate in with the star k ranch. Two thumbs way up!

Police case 15-42250 Date of occurrence October 25 2015Time was between 1p.m to 2 p.mLocation of incedent 16002 E. Smith Road and Lerado (City Event)Five cars that were broken into were all missing there purses my daughters window was smashed and my back window too my purses was stolen from the back of my suv from under a blanket these crooks were watch us victums who were victimized Aurora policedid show up and took names and phone numbersTheir should have been a "team" of workers in the parking lot watching out so that this would never could have happened but, nobody was watching they were just leading cars to designated parking spots THAT GOT VANDILISEDI can't explain on how much $$$$ this has costed me so much for "free event" nothing free about it

I have a love hate relationship with the open space. I walk, bike and jog Sand Creek (it goes through the Star K area) at least 4 days a week. I love how you feel removed from the city, my daughter and I love to see the deer, birds, beaver (and I love the snakes). My dogs love it and it's normally not very crowed, right by my home. Those are the perks (well some of them) Now the drawbacks.... City of Aurora does not do a very good job of keeping it up...broken glass, trash is the creek and along the trail, it is a dirt trail so any amount of rain will wash away the dirt on the trail and expose the weed barrier (when that pokes up and huge piles of sand your bike tires move through it like sludge), quite a few people have dogs off leash (even though it's marked through out the trail leash required) I have had a few dogs run after me, and lastly the trail is used by horses as well (we kinda wonder why not leave the main trail no horses and the side trails horse friendly) and the horse leave pretty big divots in the trail...which last year led to a torn meniscus after twisting my foot in one. Really, all the pros could be easily fixed by City of Aurora (and people keeping their dogs on leashes...)