Castlewood Canyon State Park

Name: Castlewood Canyon State Park
Telephone: (303) 688-5242
Rating: 4.8

Outdoor Adventures

4.8(3529 reviews)

The take

DougCo's best hike, top to bottom. A sandstone canyon with Gold Rush era dam ruins on the floor, Pikes Peak views from the rim, a 10 mile trail network, and a weekday vibe that's closer to solitude than any other state park within an hour of Denver.

Why it's here

Castlewood Canyon State Park is built around the sandstone canyon Cherry Creek carved into the Palmer Divide. The main attraction is geological and historical at the same time: the canyon walls, the old Castlewood Dam ruins (built 1890, failed spectacularly in 1933, flooding downtown Denver), and a trail network that lets you see both in under three hours.

The signature hike is the Inner Canyon Loop, 2.5 miles and 300 feet of elevation, which takes you along the creek, past the dam ruins, and up one side of the rim. String it together with the Rim Rock Trail and you've got a 5 mile day with real vertical and the Pikes Peak panorama. Trail surface is mostly good crushed gravel and packed dirt, well maintained, draining properly even after the August thunderstorms.

The South Entrance off Highway 83 is the one we use. The main North entrance (off Castlewood Canyon Road near Franktown) gets the weekend traffic and fills its lot by 9:30 a.m. from May through October. The South side has roughly half the parking and half the crowds.

$9 per-vehicle day pass, or the $80 Colorado Parks Pass if you'll go more than nine times a year. Dogs leashed, no grills outside designated picnic areas, no drone flying.

Know before you go

Go for

•The Inner Canyon Loop plus Rim Rock combo for a full 3 hour day
•Cottonwood fall color the first two weeks of October
•Weekday mornings in any season, you'll see more mule deer than people
•Birdwatching in May and June, the canyon is a migration corridor

Timing

Weekday mornings May through October. Weekend parking fills by 9:30 a.m. at the North entrance, 10:30 a.m. at the South. Winter access is fine but trails get icy on the north-facing rim.

Pro tip

Use the South Entrance off Highway 83 instead of the main North entrance. Less parking pressure, shorter route to the dam ruins, and the first mile on foot takes you past an oak grove nobody visits from the other side.

Skip / heads up

Summer afternoons are hot and expose you on the rim section. Thunderstorms build after 1 p.m. from late June through August and can turn the rim into a lightning risk. Turn around at the first thunder. The park closes its gates at sunset sharp.

By Mara Holloway