HIKING DOWN INTO CASCADE CANYON

We headed east of Castle Rock to Castlewood Canyon State Park, near Franktown, a very small town with a population of about 500 people and several hundred horses on horse farms scattered over the hillsides. 

We started our adventure by walking out to the overlook looking eastward to the other side of the canyon. Notice how lush and green everything is.

Paul is admiring the view. Paul is wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt since the weather has turned cooler. 

We located the Inner Canyon Trail which took us down into the canyon. The canyon floor was full of growth and lots of large rocks.

Once we got to the bottom of the canyon, we were able to walk along the canyon floor. We admired these stunning views of the overhanging rocky sides of the canyon.

The canyon floor was littered with large rocks and a small flowing stream. We looked closely but were unable to find any fish swimming in the crystal clear water.

Paul stands alongside one of the large boulders along the trail.

Paul climbed up to the top of some boulders to admire the view.

The north end of the canyon was full of Ponderosa Pine trees.

As we hiked out of the canyon floor on what was now the Lake Gulch Trail, we saw several new flowers. First, Showy Milkweed,

Designated Noxious Weed,

Cooper Mallow, sometimes called Cowboy's Delight,

Mariposa Lily,

and Common Mouse Ear.

The ground around the top of the canyon was extremely rocky. We saw this gnarled tree which if found on a beach may have been called driftwood.

One of the more intriguing observations on this hike was some boulders which looked like they were comprised of molten lava with many smaller rocks trapped as the lava hardened. Notice the rocks in the boulder on the left. The other boulders in this photo were all smooth.

The drive to Castlewood Canyon State Park was well worth it. We had a nice cool day to hike down into the canyon and observe Mother Nature's artwork at its best.