A Colorado State Parks Pass costs $7 for the day. Or, you can – as I do – go in with 100+ of your closest friends and neighbors to get the group discount rate of $45 for the year. Aside from all the agonizing details of affixing it properly to the inside of your car’s windshield, this pass is a great deal.
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One of my favorite hiking spots is Castlewood Canyon State Park. Located off Highway 83 between Colorado Springs and Denver, Castlewood Canyon sits in the headwaters of Cherry Creek just south of Franktown. It is home to some amazing sights – and critters. Photos are from June 2017. I revisited recently.
Although Cherry Creek is not much more than a trickle at this point, it once supplied a large reservoir behind an earth and stone dam built here in the 1890’s. Originally unnamed, the lake became known informally as “Lake Louisa” to the men who built the dam. Louisa was the enterprising wife of a local homesteader. For a fee she supplied dam workers with 2 hot meals a day during construction. In those pre-OSHA days, she also tended to inevitable injuries incurred on the job. Anesthesia came via a flask of whiskey stowed in Louisa’s apron. Legend has it this was a real hit with the workers, injured and uninjured alike.
All was well on Lake Louisa right up until the day the dam broke after unusually heavy rains in 1933. Here is all that’s left of it today.
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If you ever get the chance to visit Castlewood Canyon State Park, I highly recommend it. With a little lead time, I might even serve as your guide.
Trails are marked with piles of rocks…
… but it never hurts to have a guide®.
<Words to live by.> 😉
