Good info Traditional Cache
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(small)
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The park terrain except for the hogback is flat averaging 6425 feet of elevation. The hogback on the park north boundary gains 40 feet of elevation in the west and increased to 140 of elevation in the east. Much of the park ground cover is prairie and juniper prickly with scattered candelabra cholla. The park woodlands are primarily juniper and piñon. Exotic woodlands are cottonwood and Russian olive. The area west of Horseshoe Lake is partially marsh land with cattails and bulrush.
Lathrop State Park, while sitting in the shadows of the Spanish Peaks, has the honor of being Colorado’s 1st State Park and covers 1594 acres. The main features of the park are its two lakes; Martin Lake, which covers about 180 surface-acres; and Horseshoe Lake which covers 150 surface-acres. Both host a wide range of water activities and catchable fish.
Lathrop State Park is 3 miles west of Walsenburg via US Hwy. 160. Entrance to Lathrop State Park requires a park pass that can be purchased at the visitor center for display on your vehicle windshield. There is also a self-serve station near the park entrance, to purchase a pass if the visitor center is closed. The visitor center sells annual parks passes as well. Colorado disabled veterans displaying Colorado Disabled Veteran (DV) license plates are admitted free without a pass.
Beginning on Memorial Day weekend and ending on Labor Day weekend, each Friday and a different illustrated or “talks-and-props” presentation is offered at the amphitheater. History, geology, and wildlife of the area are just some of the many programs presented.
Lathrop’s picnic areas, which received an outdoor recreation award for America’s Top 15 Picnic Areas, are situated around both Martin Lake and Horseshoe Reservoir. Each table has a stand up fire grill, and most tables are shaded. Picnic tables are on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Keep your eyes peeled for the many bird species that inhabit the park year-round!
Be aware that there are rattlesnakes in the park.
A sign erected the first or second year of being Lathrop State Park is very close to this geocache. Some of the information on the sign is dated and needs correction or additional information as follows.
Prehistoric Era The ancient cultures about 10,000 years ago lived mostly in Las Animas County. There is currently no evidence they lived in Huerfano County, but apparently traveled through on their way to a known site near the sand dunes in Alamosa County.
1859 There were 114 different coal mines in Huerfano County that produced 76 million tons of coal from 1876 to 1950’s.
1876 The track for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad first arrived in Walsenburg and then continued on to La Veta on its way to Silverton. Only a few coal mines were near La Veta. The few canyons with coal mines had wide floors that currently contain Colorado Highways 12 and 69.
1865 -1875 The Goodnight and Loving Trail did not get close to Walsenburg. The cattle trail entered Colorado and drifted north-northeast to Granada, Colorado that is 11 miles from the Kansas state line.
A few yards opposite of this sign there are two signs on a railing. These signs have numbers that identified the distant mountains and other locales. The buffalo were in the park from 1965 to 1974. On the east side of the visitor center is a patio with two signs on a wall that are the same that you saw on the west side of the visitor center. Did you notice that you cannot see some of the locales because of trees? In the 1960’s there was only a juniper and piñon forest that was rarely close to the shore of the lakes. Eventually nature and the protection of the park gave us the many trees and vegetation that you see today.
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