Castlewood Canyon State Park

Castlewood Canyon State Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Remnants of Castlewood Dam
Colorado
Location	Douglas County, Colorado, USA
Nearest city	Castle Rock, CO
Coordinates	39°19′47″N 104°44′19″W / 39.32972°N 104.73861°W / 39.32972; -104.73861Coordinates: 39°19′47″N 104°44′19″W / 39.32972°N 104.73861°W / 39.32972; -104.73861
Area	2,621 acres (10.61 km²)
Established	1964
Governing body	Colorado Department of Natural Resources

Castlewood Canyon State Park is a Colorado state park near Franktown, Colorado. The park retains a unique part of Colorado's history, the remains of Castlewood Canyon Dam. Visitors can still see the remnants and damage from that dam which burst in 1933. The event sent a 15-foot (5 m) wave of water all the way to downtown Denver resulting in a flood. Also contained within the park is the historic Cherry Creek Bridge.

Recreation

This park hosts a multitude of hiking/running trails, handicapped access trails and rock climbing opportunities, as well as a nature preservation area on the eastern side that is home to wildlife and interesting geological features.^[1] Located within the northernmost extension of the Black Forest, Castle Wood Canyon encompasses 2,136 acres (9 km²) with elevations ranging from 6,200 to 6,600 feet (2,010 m). Many urban dwellers come for the picnic opportunity away from the city (group picnic facilities can be reserved), others visit the park because of the unusual geology, particularly the caprock features.

Wildlife, ecology, and geography

Among the many species living in the park are coyote, cottontail rabbit, red fox, black bear, prairie rattlesnake, mountain lion, meadow jumping mouse, turkey vulture, golden eagle, prairie falcon, virile crayfish, Woodhouse's toad and the northern leopard frog.

Ecosystem Zones in the park are grasslands, shrublands, riparian, foothills-conifer, and caprock.

Castlewood Canyon is on the edge of the Palmer Divide, a geologically upraised area that results in more moisture falling than is normal in eastern Colorado, watering the Black Forest.

Castlewood Dam Trails

References

↑ Brachfeld, Aaron. "The other Castlewood Canyon State Park - a phototour". the Meadowlark Herald (August 2015). the Meadowlark Herald. Retrieved 08/03/2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

"Castlewood Canyon State Park". Colorado State Parks.
"Plants at Castlewood Canyon State Park". Colorado State Parks.

Protected areas of Colorado

Federal

National Parks	Black Canyon of the Gunnison Great Sand Dunes Mesa Verde Rocky Mountain

National Monuments	Browns Canyon (BLM-USFS) Canyons of the Ancients (BLM) Chimney Rock (USFS) Colorado Dinosaur Florissant Fossil Beds Hovenweep Yucca House

National Recreation Areas	Arapaho (USFS) Curecanti

National Historic Sites	Bent's Old Fort Sand Creek Massacre

National Historic Trails	Old Spanish Trail Oregon Trail Pony Express Trail Santa Fe Trail

National Scenic Trail	Continental Divide Trail

National Forests	Arapaho Grand Mesa Gunnison Pike Rio Grande Roosevelt Routt San Isabel San Juan Uncompahgre White River

National Grasslands	Comanche Pawnee

National Wilderness	Black Canyon of the Gunnison Black Ridge Canyons Buffalo Peaks Byers Peak Cache La Poudre Collegiate Peaks Comanche Peak Dominguez Eagles Nest Flat Tops Fossil Ridge Great Sand Dunes Greenhorn Mountain Gunnison Gorge Holy Cross Hunter-Fryingpan Indian Peaks James Peak La Garita Lizard Head Lost Creek Maroon Bells-Snowmass Mesa Verde Mount Evans Mount Massive Mount Sneffels Mount Zirkel Neota Never Summer Platte River Powderhorn Ptarmigan Peak Raggeds Rawah Rocky Mountain National Park Sangre de Cristo Sarvis Creek South San Juan Spanish Peaks Uncompahgre Vasquez Peak Weminuche West Elk

National Conservation Areas	Dominguez-Escalante Gunnison Gorge McInnis Canyons

National Wildlife Refuges	Alamosa Arapaho Baca Browns Park Monte Vista Rocky Flats Rocky Mountain Arsenal Two Ponds

BLM ACECs	66 Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

State

Colorado State Parks	Arkansas Headwaters Barr Lake Boyd Lake Castlewood Canyon Chatfield Cherry Creek Cheyenne Mountain Crawford Eldorado Canyon Eleven Mile Elkhead Golden Gate Canyon Harvey Gap Highline Lake Jackson Lake James M. Robb - Colorado River John Martin Reservoir Lake Pueblo Lathrop Lone Mesa Lory Mancos Mueller Navajo North Sterling Paonia Pearl Lake Ridgway Rifle Falls Rifle Gap Roxborough San Luis Spinney Mountain St. Vrain Stagecoach State Forest Staunton Steamboat Lake Sweitzer Lake Sylvan Lake Trinidad Lake Vega Yampa River

Colorado Natural Areas	Aiken Canyon Ant Hill Antero-Salt Creek Arikaree River Badger Wash Blacks Gulch Blue Mountain Bonny Prairie Boston Peak Fen Boulder Mountain Park Boulder Valley Heronry Brush Creek Fen California Park Castlewood Canyon Chalk Bluffs Colorado Tallgrass Prairie Comanche Grassland Copeland Willow Carr Cross Mountain Canyon Daves Draw Deep Creek Deer Gulch Dinosaur Ridge Dome Rock Droney Gulch Duck Creek Dudley Bluffs East Lost Park East Sand Dunes Elephant Rocks Elk River Escalante Canyon Escalante Creek Fairview Fourmile Creek Fruita Paleontological Garden Park Fossil Gateway Palisade Geneva Basin Iron Fens Gothic Gunnison Gravels Haviland Lake High Creek Fen High Mesa Grassland Hoosier Ridge Hurricane Canyon Indian Spring Indian Springs Trace Fossil Irish Canyon Jimmy Creek Ken-Caryl Ranch Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Lake Pasture Lake San Cristobal Limestone Ridge Lookout Mountain Lost Park Lower Greasewood Creek McElmo Mexican Cut Mini-Wheeler Miramonte Reservoir Mishak Lakes Moosehead Mountain Mount Callahan Mount Callahan Saddle Mount Emmons Iron Fen Mount Goliath Narraguinnep Needle Rock North Park Phacelia Orient Mine Owl Canyon Paradise Park Park Creek Hogback Park Mesa Pawnee Woodlands Pyramid Rock Rabbit Valley Rajadero Canyon Raven Ridge Redcloud Peak Rocky Mountain Woodfrog Pond Rough Canyon Roxborough Running Creek Ryan Gulch Saddle Mountain San Miguel River Sand Creek Shell Duck Creek Shell Rock Slumgullion Earthflow South Beaver Creek South Boulder Creek South Cathedral Bluffs Specimen Mountain Staunton Tabeguache Tamarack Ranch Tern Island Treasurevault Mountain Trinidad K-T Boundary Two Buttes Unaweep Seep Uncompahgre Fritillary Wacker Ranch West Creek Wheeler Geologic White Rocks Williams Creek Yanks Gulch/Upper Greasewood Creek Natural Area Zapata Falls

State Wildlife Areas	307 Colorado State Wildlife Areas

Other

Trails	American Discovery Trail Colorado Trail Continental Divide Trail Great Divide Trail Kokopelli Trail Paradox Trail Tabeguache Trail

Colorado Department of Natural Resources (web)

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Castlewood Canyon State Park

Recreation

Wildlife, ecology, and geography

See also

References