GCAB1C Virtual Cache Douglas #11 Castlewood Dam
Type: Virtual | Size: Virtual Virtual | Difficulty: 1 out of 5 | Terrain: 2 out of 5
By: Jim Reeb @ | Hide Date: 11/20/2002 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 20.470 W104° 45.381 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 32

This is number 11 in a series of historical points within Douglas County Colorado.

There are other geocaches nearby. Check them out.

To go to this geocache from Franktown: Go west a little less than a half mile and go south on Castlewood Canyon Rd. There will be a large sign indicating the Falls Trailhead. Park there. For a nice hike, take the Creek Bottom trail past the falls and continue toward the dam.

This is a State Park so there is a fee.

The Falls: 39.34743, 104.76154

Castlewood Dam, built in 1890, was a rock filled structure 600 feet long, 70 feet tall and 8 feet thick at the top. It held 5,300 acre feet of water, drained from 200 square miles upstream of the dam. For several days, torrential rains pounded the area and on August 3, 1933, the dam burst.
There was no phone at the dam so the watchman, Hugh Paine, went to Castle Rock and from there notified Denver and Parker that the dam was starting to burst. The emergency system of the day was the switchboard operator sending out one very long ring and everyone would pick up the phone to see what the emergency was. The switchboard operator in Parker was Nettie Driskill who called subscribers to tell them to get to higher ground. Each telephone had a distinctive ring. One might be two longs and a short and the next might be one short and one long so you just listened for your ring. Almost all telephones were on a party line meaning that any one could pick up the phone and "listen in." Nettie married a month later and moved to Castle Rock.

Although the dam was nearly 40 miles from Denver, the flood waters reached there.

To claim this geocache email the main thing that you see at the upper left corner of the dam looking at it from the downstream side.
Also, mention one item of information that you find interesting.

Photos are fine. JimReeb@ecentral.com

Thanks Geocaching Colorado for the Geocache of the Month Award, as the second series to win!

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 Logs

20 Logs: Found it 20  

Found it 07/05/2019 By Seeking the Grail
Emailed my answers. Very interesting history and beautiful but hot day! TFTC

Found it 06/19/2019 By Pebblesinthecity
Answers sent in and we enjoyed learning something new, so thank you.


NTM and I had a late start to the day, but the sky was storm-free all day and it was nice and warm out. We ended up finding 7/8 of the caches we searched for in the ~5.5 miles that we took on. Thankfully, we brought the hammock so we were able to hang out and have lunch from the trail as well. Thanks for all the caches, they were in pretty decent condition considering the winter we just had.

Found it 05/06/2019 By krazykatzen
It must've been scary to be nearby when the dam failed. Thunder was rumbling ominously as we hurried back past the dam to the southside, like a memory from 86 years ago. We say a lot of pretty plants starting to bloom - plum trees were everywhere, and we saw lots of chiming bells, sand lilies, yellow violets, milkvetch, and even a simpsons cactus with 2 pink blooms.

Found it 04/28/2019 By TigerFinder
Awesome! In the area to hike and hear about the history. What a great hike with great views and awesome trails and geology. This was a very neat hike! Thank you for bringing me here! Answers verified. Favorite point!

Found it 04/05/2019 By Rvatornate&Fatcleo
Really interesting story in this corner of the park. Was very cool to get up close with the remains of the dam. Email sent with our observations. Thanks for the fun cache and info!

Found it 10/20/2018 By OneKindWord
Found this one while in the area for the CITO event today. Very beautiful and historic spot. Thanks for creating this awesome Virtual cache to bring me here.

Found it 10/20/2018 By siff
Was here for the CITO today. E-mail sent to CO. Thanks!

Found it 10/07/2018 By drenn1230
Found on a nice fall hike with Pack 711.

Found it 10/06/2018 By EstesLynne
We (my non caching husband and I) are on our way back to Estes Park after a few fun days in Durango and Great Sand Dunes. We could have just powered our way home, but found that we weren't ready to end the mini-vacation so we made a spur of the moment visit to Castlewood Canyon. I did manage to talk him into walking this far, and I was actually surprised at the size of the dam and its remnants. I was thinking more along the lines of the old dams in Rocky Mountain National Park (which are mercifully now all gone). Answers sent and thanks for the old virtual!

Found it 09/17/2018 By LostinDenver
This was a great geocaching day! While @WindAtMyBack was working in Parker, I decided to hit the trails looking for special caches... difficult, Earthcaches, Virtuals, highly favorited, and ones placed by my friends. The day ended with a mail call to pick up my new pathtags.
I have seen this dam before, but never got this close. I had quite an adventure (I won't disclose it for fear of prosecution) but it ended well. Tftc!

Found it 08/15/2018 By HART4Baylor
I've been wanting to visit here for a while, and I first learned of this area because of the geocaches placed here. This was a fun adventure on our last day of summer before the school year begins. Thanks for the research and placement!
Photo

Found it 07/21/2018 By AJperla
Tftc with tc

Found it 07/21/2018 By tc54915
Caching trip with AJ Perla out west in Colorado.. managed to.get my triple jasmer, hike up mountains that I never imagined I would do. I am truely a flatlander...Tftc. and
the adventures..

Found it 07/14/2018 By Memfis Mafia
Thanks Jim Reeb for this Cache. We always appreciate Cache owners for their contribution to the game.

We are on a crazy family mission to get into 5 digits for finds this year. This is find 6665 for us.

Memfis Mafia

We will add more details as we go and most likely talk about our experiences on our weekly podcast

www.geocachetalk.com

Found it 07/11/2018 By ohgeobugs
Out caching for the day with Colorado GeoDemon. Our goal was to find some more of the virtuals in the Douglas County series, some traditionals, a puzzle or two and do a power trail. When we were finished we had gone 57/58. A gorgeous day to be out caching.

This was a return trip for us as we had been here many years ago. Answers will be sent. Thanks for bringing us back to this area.

Found it 04/28/2018 By Thierry B
As usual, thanks for the history about the site.

Found it 03/08/2018 By rashidj
Found

Found it 03/04/2018 By JeepinMoreOns
Awesome site! Thanks for the history!

Found it 02/06/2018 By K Trackers
Today was my first time to Castlewood Canyon State Park, so it was good to do some exploring while having the time to grab a few caches. No lie, as I approached the dam and it came into view, Led Zepplin's "When the Lievee Breaks" started playing on my Ipod. Honest, you just can't make up stuff like that. Thanks to the CO for placing this cool virtual for everyone to find and keeping it going, TFTC.
Dam that is cool

Looks like part of the set for Mordor
The view is still not getting old

Found it 01/14/2018 By Kerewin0430
Whoa! Cool spot!! Was out doing some exploring with YamaGypsy this morning and stopped by for this virtual. Took me about 2 seconds to decide to explore the pipe/tunnel, but got cold feet halfway in, as it seemed like a good spot for snakes to be sleeping. (Thankfully, no rattlesnakes made an appearance today at all...their presence is the only consistent thing I hear about when people talk about Castlewood Canyon!) This was my first time here, but definitely won't be my last! Thanks for bringing us out! Answers sent.