Exploring Colorado’s Homesteading History at Staunton State Park
By: Ray Sorensen
Tags: Colorado, Travel Writing, Travel, Hiking, Denver

A personal casualty of the pandemic has been my level of physical activity. While some have used this time of lockdowns and social distancing to take up running, yoga, or other healthy habits, I’ve taken a different approach. It’s not like I was a triathlete before the lockdowns, but I did try to break a sweat every other day or so.

When the pandemic hit, I dropped all pretense of being active. Instead, I focused my energy on bread baking and watching TV shows about baking. The most exercise I’ve gotten over the past 18 months has been walking to the door to get my Grub Hub delivery.

I’m aware that the pandemic is a lame excuse for not getting exercise. I know that if you really want to, you can find plenty of ways to stay in shape that don’t require going to a gym. I just haven’t really wanted to.

I think subconsciously I interpreted the pandemic as the universe giving me permission to be lazy. You don’t feel like working out today? Well, of course you’re excused! There’s a pandemic. Have another plate of French toast!

Now that restrictions are easing, and the weather has turned nice I realize my lame pandemic excuse for creating a permanent “me” shape in the La-Z-Boy won’t hold out much longer. Perhaps I have taken my pandemic lethargy to its extreme. It’s time to get moving again.

So, how do you break a year and a half long habit of sloth?

With an 11-mile hike to a waterfall!

Always consult your doctor before starting any exercise regime. For me, I experienced the usual exercise related aches and pains I always do: muscle cramps, joint pain, foot pain, chest pain, eyebrow pain, heart palpitations, delirium, blackouts, and general immobility for several days afterwards.

Staunton State Park’s Homestead History

Staunton State Park, Colorado’s newest state park, opened in 2013. Built on nearly 4,000 acres in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the park is testimony to the state’s history and rugged beauty.

Most of the land on which the park sits was gifted to the state by Frances H. Staunton.

Frances Staunton sitting in front of the cabin on Staunton Ranch in 1928

Frances’ parents, Doctors Archibald and Rachel Staunton, had each received their medical degrees in the 1890s. They set up their medical practice in Denver in 1906.

In 1918, after visiting Glen Elk, the Stauntons decided to buy land in the area. They purchased an 80-acre parcel then began applying for homestead patents for neighboring parcels.

Homestead patents were the legal deeds by which the government transferred ownership of public lands to homesteaders. The original Homestead Act of 1862 was an effort to develop a free and more egalitarian agrarian economy to counter the Southern system where large plantations worked by slave labor undermined smaller farms. The Homestead Act gave parcels of land to anyone who was at least 22 years old or a head-of-household, including women and freed slaves. The Act went into effect on the same day that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Homestead Act stimulated settlement across the Midwest as millions seized the opportunity to own and work their own land. In Colorado, between 1868 and 1961, more than 22 million acres were transferred from the government into private ownership through the Homestead Act.

In 1909, the government doubled the number of acres a homesteader could claim in Colorado and other western states to encourage settlement in the mountainous and arid regions.

A homestead in Eastern Colorado. The government encouraged farming in arid regions, which later contributed to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Over the years, the Stauntons grew their original 80-acre purchase to 1,720 acres through homesteading.

To qualify for a patent, homesteaders had to make improvements on the land and farm it for a minimum of 5 years. To meet these requirements, Rachel Staunton lived on the ranch full time with her daughter Frances while Archibald continued his medical practice in Denver. Rachel grew oats and potatoes and raised horses and cattle. She also treated patients from the area.

While historians have been unable to confirm it, many believe the Stauntons operated a tuberculosis sanitarium on the ranch during the 1920s. Second and third hand stories of TB sufferers seeking treatment at the ranch still circulate among locals and some structures on the ranch appear to have been purpose built to house and care for these patients. The Stauntons may have hid evidence of their sanitarium’s existence because of the stigma associated with the disease.

From the 1930s to the 1950s the Stauntons hosted children’s camps. The Girl Scouts and other organizations operated summer camps on the ranch.

Dr. Rachel Staunton died in 1946 at the age of 71. Archibald followed in 1958 at the age of 90. Frances was their only child. She never married or had children. She was a talented singer and in the 1920s she could be heard singing on local radio. She studied music at the University of Denver and went on to perform in Operas. After her father’s death, Frances stipulated in her will that the 1,720 acres of her family’s ranch be gifted to the State of Colorado to become Staunton State Park. Frances Staunton died in 1989 at the age of 89.

A New State Park for Colorado

To secure access to the new park, the state purchased an additional 2,000 adjoining acres bringing the total area of parkland to 3,800 acres. Staunton State Park opened to the public on May 18, 2013.

Entrance to Staunton State Park

Staunton State Park offers 20 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, bird watching and rock climbing. Nestled in the Rocky Mountain foothills at an elevation of 8,200 feet, the landscape is dotted with unique rock formations, dramatic cliffs, towering mountains, lush meadows, streams, rivers, and ponds. It’s also one of the few places where you can see marmots living below the tree-line. Just 40 miles south of Denver off Highway 285 it’s an easy daytrip for many in the Denver metro area.

My sister and I decided to eject ourselves from pandemic inertia by hiking to Elk Falls. The 5.4 mile out-and-back hike is rated as moderate with only 900 feet of elevation gain. We started out from the parking lot at 7:30 in the morning.

The trails in Staunton State Park are very well maintained. Frequent signs marking directions and distances make getting lost difficult. We followed the Staunton Ranch trail past the historic cabins which are temporarily closed for a construction project. The trail winds across streams, through shady groves of aspen, and past rock-climbing walls before reaching an intersection where hikers can choose the longer Marmot Pass route or the shorter Bugling Elk Trail. We chose the short trail which took us through the idyllic Bugling Elk Meadow to Elk Falls Pond.

Bugling Elk Meadow

From the pond, we climbed the Lion’s Back trail up to an overlook where we got a great view of the Lion’s Back Mountain. From there, it was a short distance to a view of Chimney Rock, a tall spire of rock that towers over Elk Falls.

Chimney Rock

A steep trail that scrambles over some rocks and adds a half mile onto the total trail distance got us down to the base of the falls which drop 75 feet. The cool mist and sound of the rushing water rolling over the glistening rocks almost lulled us to sleep. But, we now had to hike back to our car.

Finally, our destination! Elk Falls! Now, to start the long walk back…

While we were tired, sore, and limping by the time we got back to our car, the trail’s moderate difficulty and low elevation gain made our first post-pandemic hiking excursion enjoyable. Staunton State Park is a gem in Denver’s back yard. Now that I’ve proven I am physically capable of more than pulling the recline lever on my La-Z-Boy, I am looking forward to returning to explore the other trails and activities the park offers.