Ken Caryl Ranch

Location: Jefferson County
Size: 1602 acres
Designated: 2000
Landowner: Private

The Ken-Caryl Ranch Natural Area contains a textbook example of the geologic formation known as a "hogback."   The highest ridge of the hogback is composed of Dakota sandstone (approximately 75 million years old), with a lower ridge to the west composed of Glennon Limestone (about 250 million years old).  The Niobrara shale on the east face of the main hogback supports a population of the rare Bell's twinpod (Physaria bellii).  The area is also an important topographic feature for migrating raptors.   The Ken-Caryl hogback is vegetated with a mosaic of plant communities representative of the rocky scarps and shallow valleys of hogbacks along the east face of the Front Range.  There are examples of foothills mixed grass prairie, oneseed juniper woodland, and Gambel oak thicket.