Great hike this weekend at Castlewood Canyon. We started our hike at the Lake Gulch Trailhead from the Canyon Point parking lot. We followed Lake Gulch about .8 mi to where it meets up with the Inner Canyon trail and the Dam Trail. We took the Dam Trail (that's funny) .35 mi to Rimrock trail. This followed the eastern top of the canyon and we had some great views. Staying on the trail for about 2.14 mi we completed the entire top of the canyon wall. We then popped on Creek Bottom trail which took us along Cherry Creek back up to the Dam Ruins Historic Site (1.7 mi). We climbed up and over the dam and found that Dam Trail (still funny) again and took that back to the Lake Gulch, Inner Canyon, and Dam Trail intersections. We took the Inner Canyon trail back up to the parking lot (1.16 mi). Along the way we found some poison ivy but did not touch it!
The Photos
The ascent.....actually just rocks we could climb
The Dam which is near the Dam Trail (still cracking me up.....)
On the canyon top, thinking, "Wow, now we have to hike down and all the way back"
Mandi taking a break, dangling her feet about about 70 feet up from the first ledge.
Just doing some trail maintenance...
We found shade in the dam tubes
Oh oh......
To see all the photos go here
Date: 6.25.11
Location: Castlewood Canyon State Park
Trail: (loop) Lake Gulch, Dam, Rimrock, Creek Bottom, Dam, Inner Canyon
Hiking Partners: Patti, Mandi, Katherine, Inu the dog
Packs: hydration packs for all
Recommended Maps: State park trail map
Distance Hiked: ~6 miles
Total ascent: 1151 ft
Total descent: 1158 ft
Difficulty: moderate, mostly due to distance. would be hard during a real hot day. only big elevation gains are on Rimrock trail ascending and descending the canyon but not too bad.
Departure time: 10am
Return time: 4pm (we were slow)
Weather: Perfect, sunny day, temperatures in mid 80s, dry, mild breeze
The Route
Well, they finally trapped me in the house and put the leash on me. I was hoping for a nice peaceful day of laying on the grass watching the squirrels play in the trees and the bunnies eating the garden. Still not sure why they grow food for the bunnies.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, off to the truck we went. At first I thought we were going to the vet, kennel, or some other dreadful place. About 17 hours later (dog hours) we got out of the car and there was lots of different smells. I started to figure I would be okay. The Bigs got out of the car and put on those funny packs on their backs and we started off.
Yippee! A walk! This is fun. Sniffed many new things and lots of other dogs. Pretty soon I had to poop so i stopped. The Bigs were mad, they had to bag it up and then walk it back to the trash can. Hehehehe.
I saw lots of other dogs on the trail, most were nice but I did not like one of them. He smelled bad. Most of the stranger Bigs I saw told me I was pretty. I'm a guy dog! I should be handsome!
Well, we kept hiking and I was tired. We finally stopped for lunch and I got some water and sandwich meat. It is real good. I like meat.
Unfortunately we did not get to take a nap. Had to keep hiking. Pretty soon I got real tired and wanted to stop but they wouldn't let me. Then I noticed that I was the last one in line so I bucked up and got moving.
I got to drink and walk in the stream three times. That felt good. We got back to the truck and I crashed out on the floor right away. Man did I have four tired paws. We got back home and I slept outside in the cool air and didn't even wake up for my Sunday morning walk. I was too pooped!