Castle Rock is a
butte
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In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
in the
Colorado Piedmont
The Colorado Piedmont is an area along the base of the foothills of the Front Range in north central Colorado in the United States. The region consists of a broad hilly valley, just under 5000 ft (1500 m) in elevation, stretching north and northe ...
region of the
Great Plains.
An area landmark, it is the namesake of the town of
Castle Rock, Colorado
Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 73,158 at the 2020 United States Census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 United St ...
.
The mesa’s caprock consists of
rhyolite, rock which is strongly resistant to erosion. About 58 million years ago, a volcanic eruption took place that covered the area around Castle Rock with of rhyolite. After a few million years, mass flooding and erosion of the volcanic rock gave way to the butte-shaped mesa that almost resembles plateau.
Public hiking trails on the mesa are in Rock Park, at the intersection of Front Street and Canyon Drive in the town of Castle Rock. The trailhead and parking are about two blocks south of the intersection on Front Street, for a 1.4-mile round-trip hike to the base of the town's namesake (climbing the rest of the way to the summit is discouraged by a sign warning that the loose rocks are a fall hazard). Other trailheads can be found along Canyon Drive and Sunset Drive.
Day Hikes Near Denver: Castle Rock Trail
8 Mar 2018.
References
Castle Rock, Colorado
Rock formations of Colorado
Landforms of Douglas County, Colorado
Buttes of Colorado
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