This cache was made possible with the assistance and cooperation of the Castlewood Canyon State Park Volunteer Staff. Portions of the geological text are used with Scott Knight's permission. The Hula Girl and Pirate photos are used courtesy of Ron Claussen. Additional text help was provided by jp66
Begin your journey at the Lucas Homestead Historic Site and head for the Rimrock Trail. Your hike will be about 1 mile and has a short, steep section. After visiting the site, either return the way you came or continue your hike south for a great view of the dam. At that point you can drop back down off the rim to the dam area and return to your vehicle on the Creek Bottom Trail.
As you hike up the trail and cross the stream, you will see a present day sandbar that some day may be buried and cemented into a sandy conglomerate. Also keep an eye out for a spring on the right hand side of the trail and the old toll road (1866!) that cuts across the trail.
At the posted coordinates you will be standing on a sand bar in a stream that flowed from the Front Range Uplift eastward to what is now Castlewood Canyon State Park. 34 million years ago you would have seen palm trees on the river banks and grazing titanotheres, large herbivores distantly related to (and resembling) rhinoceroses. Conglomerate rocks are easy to identify– they’re like cookie dough with bits of chocolate chips sticking out. The “dough” is sedimentary rock and the chips are pebbles and boulders that became smoothed and rounded during their 40 mile river journey from the mountains located to the west. Over time the sand bar solidified and the cobbles were cemented into the rock by the water’s high concentration of silicates–nature’s concrete . Today it is referred to as Castle Rock Conglomerate.
Eventually this layer became exposed and subjected to physical weathering by water and wind. Some sections are more resistant than others, forming hoodoos and gargoyle-like features.The Gargoyle and its offspring are in a sandstone lens within the Castle Rock Conglomerate that erodes more easily than much of the other conglomerates in the park. It is not forming blocks that fall from the cliff. It is an unusual style of weathering within the park.
The Gargoyle is at the very edge of the cliff, so keep an eye on your footing and do not let children and pets (or yourself) get too close to the edge.
After admiring the handsome gargoyle, look behind him to view the gargoyle "nursery."
< Please email me the answers to the following questions to get credit for visiting the gargoyle. 1. Notice that there are a lot of cracks and fractures in the rocks under your feet. What role do you think these cracks played in forming the Gargoyle and his/her progeny?
2.Examine the size and shape of the cobbles embedded in the conglomerate. What size (in inches) are the largest cobbles you see in the immediate vicinity of the Gargoyle and the nursery?
3. Given the size and shape of the cobbles you are looking at, would you expect the conglomerate was deposited by a slow, sluggish stream or a fast moving river?
4. Post picture of the gargoyle "dressed up"(optional)