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CR 80C, Cherokee Park Road

CR 80C, commonly known as Cherokee Park Road, departs from 287 ~2 miles north of the Forks heading northwest towards the Wyoming border.  At mile 18, CR 59 forks to the north reaching the Wyoming border in 6 miles. Meanwhile 80C arcs west for ~15 miles to Boulder Ridge.  Then 80C heads southwest for ~15 miles down to the Larimer River (which flows north into Wyoming).  Note some maps have CR 59 labeled as Cherokee Park Road .  

The first several miles after leaving 287, the land is generally level and actually drops a bit as you come to the North Fork and then gradually rising.  At Calloway Hill the road begins serious climbing, perhaps 3 - 4 thousand feet.  (Note, some mileages are estimated from the map).     

What will you see?  Land, lots of land, and some cattle, especially in the first several miles of the Livermore Park.  You will see few structures.  This area began as ranch country, and still is.  Sheep were part of the landscape when the Brackenbury Ranch was at its height, 15,000 acres.  A Brackenbury descendant, Amy, and husband Lars Larson live on 400 acres about mile 16, the residual of the once large ranch, the rest having been sold to various other ranchers, who mostly run cattle these days.  (The McMurry family whose present ranch is just south of Livermore, were also involved in sheep.)

In addition to ranch land you will encounter State Wildlife Areas (SWA) managed by the State of Colorado, Division of Wildlife.  SWA is land set aside for hunting and fishing and paid for with funds collected from persons engaged in those activities.  The lands are open to the public in the off-season, which is May through September.  The State Wildlife Areas will discussed more later.  

80C and Rabbit Creek in the Livermore Park Area

Trails End (named mostly likely because this is the point where Trail Creek enters the North Poudre) is generally the extent of the greater Livermore area.

The table below identifies what you will see, and much of what is not visible from the road.  The first column is the distance from 287, the second column refers to the side of the road, and the final column is a label and description of the ranch, or other item, and some history.  

The Stonewall Creek Ranch is on the west side of 287 on the Stonewall Creek near its entrance to the North Poudre.  At its largest, the Ranch encompassed 13,000 acres, not all contiguous.  As the sign indicates, two families currently live on this portion of the original ranch. Stonewall Creek got its name from the large vertical back rock face where the creek crosses from the east to the west side of 287.

A brief history of the Ranch follows.

1871     homesteaded by James C. Barlow, first on a RR section then moved to S20, T10, R70; a wheelwright and blacksmith, he had good business along State Road to Wyoming; he planted fruit and cottonwood trees.

1891     Son George homesteaded on adjacent land.

1893     George added 80 acres as a timber claim, built a 195 X 28 greenhouse which was kept heated in the winter.

1897    Mrs. Harriet (Harned) Martin buys Barlow land.

1910    Andy Johnson buys property and adds more fruit trees.

1920    James Andrews buys land and adds more properties.

1938    Ranch of 13,000 acres sold to a variety of persons.

1956     Mrs. Emmy Feree buys Ranch which at this point is 9,000 acres; son Milton & wife Shirley manage ranch until they purchase it in 1963.

1981     Feree sells portion on west side of 287 to Carl and Jeanne Judson who make this property part of the Phantom Canyon Ranches.

1987     Nature Conservancy purchases a section containing the Poudre River canyon (section leading north out of the Livermore Park, now called Phantom Canyon.

For more on the Stonewall Ranch, see Ranch Tour.

Cherokee Park Road, a short distance from 287.

View looking west showing some extent of the park.  Just beyond the near hill is the North Poudre. 

Below are the hay fields not quite visible in the above photo.

The North Poudre flows north in the gap between the two hills in the center of the picture, called Phantom Canyon. Farther up the Poudre is the Nature Conservancy’s Phantom Canyon Preserve.  

This photo, west and slightly south, shows how broad and extensive is the northern portion of Livermore Park.  The North Poudre runs through the middle of the picture.  In the far ground is the mountain range dividing the north and south portions of Livermore Park.

Steamboat and Tugboat Rock

Looking back to the east is this view of Steamboat Rock and Tugboat Rock (smaller rock on the right).

State Wildlife Areas

There are five “units” in this area, collectively called the Cherokee Park . Four are located along 80C, the Lower, Rabbit Creek, Middle and Upper units.  The fifth, the Lone Pine is accessed from 74E (see map below, after table. Rabbit Creek is not shown).  The table shows the acreage, lower and higher elevations for four units.   

 Map Showing the Cherokee Park State Wildlife Areas

The purple shows the SWA units.  The map was obtained from the National Forest website. Legibility problems are the result of first printing the map then scanning into the computer, and trying to make resizing and other adjustments. 

The SWA unit at the bottom of the map is the Lone Pine.  Red Feather Lakes Road cuts through the southeastern tip of the unit (which happens to be a school section and the area known as Antelope Springs where the Zimmerman Road went to avoid the steepness of McNey Hill).  Above and to the right is the Lower Unit; you can see 80C touching the northern tips of the unit.  The Lower Unit is now connected through the Rabbit Creek Unit which the division purchased from the Hansen Ranch in 2000.  The Middle Unit is northwest and the Upper Unit is further west.

White color on the map is private property and green is U.S. Forest Service.  You can see that private land is greatest on the east and decreases as you travel west.  The black line running south to north demarks the eastern boundary of the Roosevelt National Forest (at the transition from Range 71 to Range 72).  The boundary has some inaccuracies because it includes some private land, most notably the Glacier View Meadows 5^th Filing (where I live) and land south of 74E around McNey Hill.

Phantom Canyon Ranches

Recent History

 Over 10,000 acres of the original Phantom Canyon Ranch are protected by a combination of preserves, conservation easements and covenants which insure that more than 98% of the land will remain as open space, unchanged and unspoiled, to be enjoyed by future generations. Phantom Canyon Ranches surround The Nature Conservancy's Phantom Canyon Preserve. In addition, all of the landowners at Phantom Canyon Ranches have the exclusive use of nearly 1400 acres which include about 2½ miles of exceptional catch-and-release trout fishing, the recreational use of a 275-acre stocked reservoir and access to 10 miles of hiking and equestrian trails. Phantom Canyon Ranches also adjoins two Colorado State Wildlife Areas totaling more than 14,000 acres.  The above material was obtained from the Phantom Canyon website http://cjudson.com/ where more information can be obtained including lots for sale.