mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-07-23 09:04 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-07-23 09:04 pm
Tuesday, July 15: Castlewood Canyon State Park
Last Tuesday, we went to Castlewood Canyon. It's a state park that really isn't that far, yet that I always somehow forget is there, ha.
There are two different ways into the park, and we opted for the western entrance. The hope was to maybe poke at a couple of the short little trails, and then take the creek trail over to the ruins of an old dam in the middle of the park.
We didn't quite make it that far, but what we did was fun!
Right inside the park entrance is the Homestead Trail. It starts near the "Lucas Homestead," a house from 1894, and the trail goes around some of the other outbuildings and other features from their land.
The remains of the homestead.
A nice grasshopper.
Another shot of the homestead.
A little baby grasshopper.
Old cattle chute from the homestead.
One (1) small lizard.
The Fancy Wall, as the signage calls it.
A flycatcher (probably.)
The remains of the old springhouse.
Which still has a spring!
Also raspberries! (Yes we ate some. Yes they were delicious.)
Daddy longlegs! :D
Then we drove up to the next parking lot, where we took the "Cave Trail" up. It's listed as being strenuous, but very short, so we figured we'd brave it.
Bella was extra brave!
She actually really seems to enjoy climbing! More so than just "regular" hiking. If she sees a big rock, she'd really like to be on top of it.
Looking up from the base.
The hike up was definitely strenuous, though still very doable. A lot of it is stairs. My knee was screaming at my by the time we got up there, though.
Somewhat unfortunately, the trail is closed part way up, for nesting raptors. Specifically turkey vultures, later signage told us. My bad for not checking on that! The closures are only through August 1st, so we'll have to give it another try sometime next month, maybe.
The part of the trail that was accessible still led to a neat little area:
It's not quite as obvious in the picture, but the space behind the cliff face here is hollow, and you can see through into the space behind. I bet that seasonally it's a really cool waterfall.
And there were, in fact, turkey vultures!
Bella in the little "tunnel" the trail goes through. (I like this picture.)
More Bella rock climbing!
A little woolly lamb's ear, bravely growing in the rocks. I just thought it was cute.
The hike all the way up and then back down the stairs was quite a lot.
The instant we got back to the car, Bella wanted to take a nap about it.
The original plan had been to hike to the dam, but Bella was tired enough that we weren't sure we'd make it all the way there and back. There was a shorter section of the longer trail that led to what was just labeled the "falls area," so we figured we'd go look at that. We headed down to the third of the parking lots on this side.
Look, a waterfall!
From there, a different view of the cliffs, and so many turkey vultures. They posed very nicely in the dead tree! I'm guessing the nesting is working out for them.
One more adventure shot of Bella.
While it was a bummer not to make it all the way out to where we'd intended, we were all pretty tired by that point, so we did just head back after taking a look at the waterfall.
And a deer on our way back out!
It was a very fun day, and there are definitely a bunch more trails (both on this side and from the other entrance) to check out.
There are two different ways into the park, and we opted for the western entrance. The hope was to maybe poke at a couple of the short little trails, and then take the creek trail over to the ruins of an old dam in the middle of the park.
We didn't quite make it that far, but what we did was fun!
Right inside the park entrance is the Homestead Trail. It starts near the "Lucas Homestead," a house from 1894, and the trail goes around some of the other outbuildings and other features from their land.
The remains of the homestead.
A nice grasshopper.
Ten more from the "homestead" trail:
Another shot of the homestead.
A little baby grasshopper.
Old cattle chute from the homestead.
One (1) small lizard.
The Fancy Wall, as the signage calls it.
A flycatcher (probably.)
The remains of the old springhouse.
Which still has a spring!
Also raspberries! (Yes we ate some. Yes they were delicious.)
Daddy longlegs! :D
Then we drove up to the next parking lot, where we took the "Cave Trail" up. It's listed as being strenuous, but very short, so we figured we'd brave it.
Bella was extra brave!
She actually really seems to enjoy climbing! More so than just "regular" hiking. If she sees a big rock, she'd really like to be on top of it.
Seven more pictures from the "cave trail:"
Looking up from the base.
The hike up was definitely strenuous, though still very doable. A lot of it is stairs. My knee was screaming at my by the time we got up there, though.
Somewhat unfortunately, the trail is closed part way up, for nesting raptors. Specifically turkey vultures, later signage told us. My bad for not checking on that! The closures are only through August 1st, so we'll have to give it another try sometime next month, maybe.
The part of the trail that was accessible still led to a neat little area:
It's not quite as obvious in the picture, but the space behind the cliff face here is hollow, and you can see through into the space behind. I bet that seasonally it's a really cool waterfall.
And there were, in fact, turkey vultures!
Bella in the little "tunnel" the trail goes through. (I like this picture.)
More Bella rock climbing!
A little woolly lamb's ear, bravely growing in the rocks. I just thought it was cute.
The hike all the way up and then back down the stairs was quite a lot.
The instant we got back to the car, Bella wanted to take a nap about it.
The original plan had been to hike to the dam, but Bella was tired enough that we weren't sure we'd make it all the way there and back. There was a shorter section of the longer trail that led to what was just labeled the "falls area," so we figured we'd go look at that. We headed down to the third of the parking lots on this side.
Look, a waterfall!
Just three more pictures:
From there, a different view of the cliffs, and so many turkey vultures. They posed very nicely in the dead tree! I'm guessing the nesting is working out for them.
One more adventure shot of Bella.
While it was a bummer not to make it all the way out to where we'd intended, we were all pretty tired by that point, so we did just head back after taking a look at the waterfall.
And a deer on our way back out!
It was a very fun day, and there are definitely a bunch more trails (both on this side and from the other entrance) to check out.
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I was really happy with that nice big grasshopper. Very pleased that he posed nicely for me.
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I'm always happy when we see deer. And the baby grasshopper was so cute and stripey!
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Now that he's agreed to actually use it, Pip thinks the Voltaren works great on his knee, if that's something that might work for you. (It says arthritis, but works on any inflamation.)
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That's good to know! Luckily (for now) the pain doesn't usually linger for too long, but specifically having to go up stairs causes something above the kneecap to really start to hurt. But I'm glad that the Voltaren works, because I may need to look into that! I've wanted to see if Alex would try it for some of his physical ailments, too.
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This is a pretty reasonable approach to life, really. She's lucky that you take her so many cool places!
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I'm glad we're able to take her so many places with us. <3
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The ruins were very neat. And the waterfall was lovely!
It's very funny to me how much Bella enjoys climbing, but I'm glad she seems to have fun with it!
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One thought, since my knees also struggle with (the descending part of) steep trails, is have you tried using hiking poles? They not perfect, but they've definitely helped make things much more manageable again for me.
Aww, that is one happy, pooped puppy (the picture of Bella conked out in the car haha). ^_^ <3
Neat about the turkey vultures - I've never seen so many in a single place or picture before!
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The ruins were neat, and while the cave trail was a bit more... vertical... than I usually want to go, it was very worthwhile.
I think Bella would love to be a mountain goat, haha.
I haven't ever used hiking poles, but I might look into it! I like having my hands free, but it might be worth sacrificing that to save my knees, ha.
The turkey vultures were great. We went back the next week and saw even more - definitely more than I'd ever seen all together!
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I saw a ton of vultures today in a tree airing themselves out. I really like them, for some reason.
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I love vultures! They're neat, and I'm always excited to see them. I was glad there were so many. It's always nice when they pose so nicely in a tree, too! (I remember a raptor rescue we visited many years ago who talked about "vulture solar panels" when the vultures would hold their wings up like that, and the description is always what I think of now, haha.)
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The deer was nice! I know they're all over the place, but I'm excited to see them every time.