Colorado Porch

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Water and land

Wells and water rights, septic and rural land, mineral rights, and what it really means to own ground in a place where water is its own kind of property.

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Local notes

More water and land notes

329 sourced notes in this topic

Water and land

Green Mountain Reservoir anchors the lower Blue River and its fall kokanee run

Green Mountain Reservoir in northern Summit County is a federal reservoir on the Blue River known for boating and a fall kokanee salmon run that draws anglers.

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Water and land

Kiowa County's Great Plains Reservoirs are a rest stop for migrating birds

The Great Plains Reservoirs near Eads provide open water on the dry prairie that attracts migrating waterfowl and other birds, which is why they matter to wildlife as well as anglers.

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Water and land

Lone rock towers near La Veta are old volcanic plugs

Isolated rock towers like Goemmer Butte near La Veta are the hardened cores of old volcanic vents, left standing after softer ground wore away.

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Water and land

Ruby-Horsethief: a calm Colorado River float that needs a camping permit

The Ruby-Horsethief stretch of the Colorado River from Loma toward Westwater is mostly flatwater, but overnight camping there requires a reserved BLM permit year-round.

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Water and land

The Animas is Durango's river, and a closely watched one

The Animas River is the heart of Durango's outdoor life, and because it drains old mining country upstream, agencies keep a close eye on its water quality, especially since the 2015 Gold King Mine release.

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Water and land

The Black Canyon's walls are some of the oldest rock in Colorado

The dark, striped cliffs of Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Montrose are nearly two-billion-year-old Precambrian rock, laced with pink pegmatite that gives the Painted Wall its name.

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Water and land

The stone walls radiating from the Spanish Peaks are famous volcanic dikes

The long rock ridges that fan out from the base of the Spanish Peaks are radial dikes, hardened sheets of igneous rock left when molten material filled cracks and the softer ground around them wore away.

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Water and land

Wagon Wheel Gap is a narrow rock gateway with its own geology story

Wagon Wheel Gap, where the Rio Grande squeezes through a rock narrows southeast of Creede, sits on the edge of an ancient volcanic caldera and has an interpretive site explaining its geology and old fluorspar mining.

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Water and land

Riverdale Regional Park ties the fairgrounds to the South Platte River Trail

Riverdale Regional Park near Brighton is the county's main fairgrounds and open-space hub, with golf, disc golf, and a link to the South Platte River Trail.

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Water and land

The Never Summer Mountains are the young volcanic edge of the park

The Never Summer Range west of Grand Lake is made of volcanic rock far younger than the ancient granite that forms most of Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Water and land

Lemon Reservoir and Haviland Lake are quieter, non-motorized waters

Lemon Reservoir and Haviland Lake north of Durango offer fishing and calm-water paddling without the big-motor crowds, with boating limited mainly to non-motorized or electric craft.

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Water and land

Fishing the high lakes and creeks above Gilpin County's East Portal

The lakes and streams in the James Peak Wilderness above Gilpin County's East Portal draw hike-in anglers, but fishing them means a license and rules that change by water.

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Water and land

Hot Sulphur Springs is named for warm water that rises along faults and cracks in the rock

The town of Hot Sulphur Springs takes its name from natural hot springs that surface where deep-warmed water finds a path up through faults and permeable zones to the Colorado River valley.

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Water and land

Warm springs north of Durango come from faults in the Animas Valley

The thermal springs along the Animas Valley north of Durango, including the Pinkerton and Trimble springs, are fault-controlled geothermal features studied by the Colorado Geological Survey.

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Water and land

Crystal Peak: a world-famous home for blue-green amazonite

The Crystal Peak area between Woodland Park and Lake George is known worldwide for amazonite and smoky quartz, with much of the prime ground held as private or claimed land you'll want to confirm before digging.

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Water and land

The High Line Canal is an old ditch turned long shady trail

The High Line Canal is a historic irrigation ditch, long owned by Denver Water, whose banks now form a long, mostly flat, tree-shaded trail across the metro area.

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Water and land

Why peaches thrive at Palisade: a warm river-valley pocket

The orchards around Palisade sit in a warm, sheltered pocket of the Grand Valley along the Colorado River, a combination of climate and soil that supports Colorado's stone-fruit growing.

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