GOLDEN, Colo. -- With heat continuing across the Front Range, you can bet on people heading to Golden to float down Clear Creek.
"It was a lot of fun, there were some calm parts where it was just relaxing and then a lot of parts where there were drops and splashes and you got wet," said Hayden Brickey.
Brickey is new to Golden. In fact, he’s a freshman who is about to start his education at the Colorado School of Mines.
"I think it’s great - being able to see the community flourish - and especially businesses like this - it’s a lot of fun to be able to interact with the community, especially since I’m new here," said Brickey.
Signs indicating that access to Clear Crek is closed are easy to find.
The question is, why?
"There’s really no difference in sitting on a patio next to people, going to the park or the playground with the kids," said Gloria Crawford, who brought her family tubing.
So, people have started taking their tubes, walking alongside the creek for about 15 minutes until they’re out of city limits and then getting into the creek.
It’s not news to the city, it's actually encouraged.
"This was our way of balancing wanting people to be able to recreate in the creek as well as prevent the gatherings along the creek," said Deputy City Manager of Golden, Carly Lorentz.
The City of Golden has park rangers and police alongside the creek enforcing social distancing and mask wearing.
Last weekend, the city spoke with more than 500 people and issued one citation.
For some neighbors in the area, the city’s move is a happy medium between keeping people safe and keeping the economy open.
"Personally, I think it’s a smart move by the city because you want people to have a good time, you want people to be able to access the resources and have a fun float in the creek, you want to try to reestablish some sort of normal if you can," said Peyton Rose.
After the last few weekends it is clear, people will continue heading to Golden to live up their last weeks of summer, even if it takes an extra mile.
