Grape Creek (Colorado)
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Grape Creek is a tributary of the Arkansas River that flows through
Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...
and Fremont counties in
South-Central Colorado South-Central Colorado is a region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It can be roughly defined by Chaffee County in the northwest, El Paso County in the northeast, Las Animas County in the southeast, and Conejos County in the southwest. Some notab ...
. The creek drains much of the
Wet Mountain Valley The Wet Mountain Valley is a high elevation mountain valley mostly located in Custer County, Colorado, Custer County but extending southward into Huerfano County, Colorado, Huerfano County in south-central Colorado. Westcliffe, Colorado, Westclif ...
, located between the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...
and the
Wet Mountains The Wet Mountains are a small mountain range in southern Colorado, named for the amount of snow they receive in the winter as compared to the dry Great Plains to the east. They are a sub-range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the southern Roc ...
in Custer County.


Course

The creek rises in the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...
near Blueberry Mountain. From there, it descends down the east side of the Sangre de Cristos to the Wet Mountain Valley and then flows northwards towards the town of Westcliffe. North of the town, it crosses under
Highway 69 Route 69, or Highway 69, may refer to: International *European route E69 Australia * Appin Road Canada * Alberta Highway 69 * Ontario Highway 69 China * G69 Expressway Finland * Finnish national road 69 Greece * EO69 road India * N ...
and heads northeast, where it is impounded by DeWeese Reservoir. Leaving the reservoir, the creek flows generally north down a rocky and remote canyon, eventually emptying into the Arkansas River just west of Cañon City.


Public lands

After it leaves the DeWeese Reservoir, the creek passes through a canyon owned by the BLM, which has classified of the river canyon as an
area of critical environmental concern Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is a conservation ecology program in the Western United States, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ACEC program was conceived in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act ( ...
. The creek also passes through a small portion of the
San Isabel National Forest San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Col ...
. Next, the creek passes through two parcels of land () owned by the State of Colorado and managed by
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages the state parks system and the wildlife of the U.S. state of Colorado. Responsibilities include state parks, wildlife areas, and the Colorado Natural Areas Program. History *1937 – The state legislature ap ...
. This State Trust Land is located in Fremont County and offers hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing. Finally, the creek is the centerpiece of the Temple Canyon Park, owned and managed by the city of Cañon City. The park is located near the river's end, before it merges with the Arkansas.


See also

*
List of rivers of Colorado This is a list of rivers and streams in the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado. ##Alphabetical list, Alphabetical list ##Tributary chart, Tributary chart __TOC__ Alphabetical list The following alphabetical list includes many import ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Temple Canyon Park map

Grape Creek State Trust Land
Rivers of Fremont County, Colorado Rivers of Custer County, Colorado Protected areas of Custer County, Colorado Protected areas of Fremont County, Colorado