Colorado - Day 24 - Chatfield State Park

Chatfield State Park, Littleton                                                            Thursday, 24 September 2020

I've never seen a campground laid out like this one.  It has 4 camping loops, each consisting of several concentric circles with pull-in campsites at intervals along each circle.  The circles are connected by 2 cross roads that lead to the center of the total loop where the shower rooms are.  Here and there along the circles are other bathrooms, but these were closed for some reason.  Maybe there were just too many to keep clean to coronavirus standards.

This campground was nearly full, even though last night was a Wednesday.  The loop I was in offered only electric hookups - we were expected to fill up our water tanks before setting up camp.  The other 3 loops were full hookups, though - electric, water and sewer. 

This state park offers a wide variety of activities: a hot air balloon launch area; a model airplane field with paved runways; 345 bird species and numerous wildlife species; an off-leash dog area; facilities for stabling your own horse and for horse riding rental; trails for hiking and bicycling and various winter sports; a lake & marina with both motor and sail boats.  This park, like all the state parks I've seen, insists on mandatory boat inspections for aquatic nuisance species.  I've seen a sign saying, "Don't Move A Mussel," which is fairly clever.

A park brochure included some history of the area.  In 1858, early settlers found gold near both Cherry Creek and South Platte River, which meet in Denver but start south of town near where the state park is now.  The Arapahoe and Cheyenne in the area warned the settlers it was "bad medicine" to build settlements here but, as usual, the white men paid no attention to anyone who wasn't white.  It took a while for the bad medicine to catch up, but catch up it did.  Floods occurred in 1933, 1935, and 1942.  Finally in 1965, Plum Creek (also in this area) became so swollen that when it flowed into the Platte, the river jumped its banks, causing 13 deaths and $300 million in damage, which is a lot of damage in 1968 dollars.  I guess folks figured it was too late by then to move Denver, so the US Army Corps of Engineers built a dam, creating Chatfield Lake in 1975.  And the moral of that story is, pay attention to people who came before you.

While we were there, I'd have been grateful for even a drop of rain, but the drought in Colorado continues.  Instead, what I saw were deer, rabbits and (by smell) a skunk.  I think the dogs found something else, but it was dark and I couldn't see what got them so excited.  Probably just as well.

There were a lot of Magpies here, and I saw and heard Western Meadowlarks.  I first saw them near the Texas Gulf Coast and ever since have thought they have one of the prettiest bird songs ever.  So it was a real treat to hear them again here.  And they are really pretty, aren't they? 

Western Meadowlark