I visited Roxborough State Park this past Saturday (June 19th). This was my third visit to this scenic park. Roxborough is well worth visiting multiple times, especially for photographers. Local landscape photographer John Fielder (recipient of the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams award) considers Roxborough “the most beautiful park in the Colorado State Parks system.” Besides being one of our most beautiful & most accessible state parks (it is only about fifteen miles southwest of Denver), Roxborough is also a Colorado Natural Area and a National Natural Landmark. All of this should tell you that Roxborough is a special place.
The main attraction at Roxborough is the park’s spectacular geologic setting. The tilted sandstone rocks are part of the Lyons and Fountain geologic formations & are similar to what you will find at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Garden of the Gods. Wildlife watching is also a popular pasttime at Roxborough. You’re almost guaranteed to see mule deer during your visit. This past Saturday morning, as I passed by the visitor center, a ranger told me I might want to make noise as I walked the trails because there’d been a couple of recent mountain lion sightings in the park, as well as sightings of a mother black bear and her two cubs. Wouldn’t you know it, but my bear bell was on my other pack, so I whistled while I walked around on the lovely, tree-lined dirt trails.
For photographing the colorful sandstone formations, you’ll want to be at Roxborough as early as possible in the morning, but since the gate doesn’t open until 7 am, you won’t be able to shoot at sunrise in the summer… unless you check the www.parks.state.co.us website for one of the park’s periodic 5 am openings.
If you head north from the parking lots & visitor center on the Fountain Valley Trail, you’ll come upon two must-stop spots for photography. The first is the Fountain Valley Overlook (below)…
The second spot, the Lyons Overlook (below), will be a bit farther up the trail…
At the Lyons Overlook, I made my way over to a rocky outcrop that is just a stone’s throw south of the “official” viewing platform. There’s a great view from up there, but I don’t know how smart it was to plow my way through the prickly shrubs & scrub oak since a) I scratched my legs all to heck and b) Roxborough is apparently known for its healthy population of rattlesnakes. Yikes.
May and June is a wonderful time to visit Roxborough. The vibrant green landscape matched up with the red rocks is a winning combination. There were some great wildflowers blooming when I was at the park last weekend (below). But Roxborough is open all year round, and I’ve always wanted to head down there in winter, after a heavy, wet snow, to photograph the fresh snow covering the red rocks… I haven’t made that trip yet. Maybe this winter.
Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. ~ Rich
2 comments:
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your helpful guide to Roxborough Park. Really helpful stuff that makes me feel I can go there and get some good shots without even scouting first. Big thanks Rich for all the helpful details from a photographer's perspective.
I also really appreciate this information. Roxoborough is on my list, but I didn't know whether the geologic formations were a sunrise or sunset shot, and this page has answered that for me and more. Very nice pictures as well!
Post a Comment