Hikes Around Fort Collins

Melodie S. Edwards

Description

Northern Colorado offers an exhilarating blend of recreational activities and beauty from alpine meadows and wild canyons to peaceful forests. There is plenty of room to roam among the thousands of acres of parks and natural areas in Fort Collins, Poudre Canyon, and North Park.
Hikes Around Fort Collins has more than sixty-five trail descriptions. Each description includes a map, photographs, and detailed information, making this an indispensable reference for those wanting to explore the natural beauty in this region.
Northern Colorado’s history continues to be made, as populations of people move into the West and the art of living skillfully in proximity to nature is made possible. This art means never forgetting the lessons of the past or the goal of preserving wilderness—its diversity, its challenges, its infinite mystery—for future generations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
A Short History of Northern Colorado xv
How to Use This Book xv
Backcountry Ethics xxviii
Safety Concerns xxx
Overview Map xxxiv-xxxv
Fort Collins Area Trails
Buckhorn Canyon 1
Horsetooth Mountain Park 5
Lory State Park 19
Loveland/Big Thompson Area 41
Pawnee National Grasslands 52
Red Feather Lakes 57
Around Town 71
Poudre Canyon Area Trails
Pingree Park 104
Lower Poudre Canyon 119
Upper Poudre Canyon 144
Rawah Wilderness 170
North Park Area Trails
Colorado State Forest State Park 182
Never Summer Wilderness Area 197
Routt National Forest 201
Zirkel Wilderness 209
References 235
Index 237

Sujets

• Sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Colorado
• CO
• MT
• UT
• ID
• Fort Collins
• NV
• West
• United States
• NM
• Fort Collins, Colorado
• Recreation
• Hiking
• North Park
• Poudre Canyon
• Óxido de carbono (II)
• Kilotón
• Fort Collins (Colorado)
• Fort Collins Colorado
• Sports

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 26 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9780871089915
• Langue: English

Extrait

Hikes Around Fort Collins
Hikes Around Fort Collins
A Trail Guide to Urban Hikes, Poudre Canyon, North Park, and Loveland
Melodie S. Edwards
2008 by Melodie S. Edwards
Interior photos by the author unless otherwise noted
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews and articles.
Second edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Edwards, Melodie S.
Hikes Around Fort Collins: A Trail Guide to Urban Hikes, Poudre Canyon, North Park, and Loveland / Melodie S. Edwards.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN: 978-0-87108-952-6 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-87108-991-5 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-87108-994-6 (hardbound)
1. Hiking-Colorado-Guidebooks. 2. Cycling-Colorado-Guidebooks. 3. Trails-Colorado-Guidebooks. 4. Colorado-Guidebooks. I. Title
GV199.42.C6 E39 2001
917.8804 34-dc21 2001019354

WestWinds Press
An imprint of Graphic Arts Books
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, OR 97238-6118
[phone]
www.graphicartsbooks.com
Design by Kay Turnbaugh
Cover photos: istock.com: 2003 drflet; inset: istock.com:
2006 John Upchurch
This book is dedicated to my dogs: To the memory of Lucy, who passed on during the making of this book. And to the happy arrival of Mora, who came into my life just in time to spend most of her puppyhood trailborne. What would life on the soft path have been without you both?
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
A Short History of Northern Colorado
How to Use This Book
Backcountry Ethics
Safety Concerns
Overview Map
FORT COLLINS AREA TRAILS
B UCKHORN C ANYON
1 Lookout Mountain Trail #926
H ORSETOOTH M OUNTAIN P ARK
2 Herrington/Stout Loop
3 Horsetooth Falls
4 Horsetooth Rock
5 Spring Creek/Mill Creek Trail
L ORY S TATE P ARK
6 Arthur s Rock
7 Overlook Trail
8 Shoreline Trail
9 South Valley Loop
10 Timber Trail
11 Waterfall Trail
12 Well Gulch
L OVELAND /B IG T HOMPSON A REA
13 Crosier Mountain
14 Devils Backbone Nature Trail
15 Round Mountain
P AWNEE N ATIONAL G RASSLANDS
16 Pawnee Buttes
R ED F EATHER L AKES
17 Eagle s Nest Rock
18 Killpecker Creek Trail #956
19 Mount Margaret
20 North Lone Pine Trail #953
A ROUND T OWN
21 Blue Sky Trail
22 Campeau Natural Area
23 Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area
24 Coyote Ridge Natural Area
25 Environmental Learning Center
26 Fossil Creek Reservoir
27 Lee Martinez Park
28 Maxwell Natural Area
29 Pineridge Natural Area
POUDRE CANYON AREA TRAILS
P INGREE P ARK
30 Browns Lake Trail #941
31 Emmaline Lake Trail #954
32 Fish Creek Trail #1009
33 Stormy Peaks Trail #980
L OWER P OUDRE C ANYON
34 Dadd Gulch
35 Gateway Mountain Park
36 Greyrock Summit Trail #946
37 Greyrock Meadow Loop
38 Hewlett Gulch Trail #947
39 Mount McConnel Trail #801
40 Young Gulch Trail #837
U PPER P OUDRE C ANYON
41 Big South Trail #944: Lower
42 Big South Trail #944: Upper
43 Lulu City
44 Mirror Lake
45 Montgomery Pass Trail #977
46 Roaring Creek Trail #952
47 Trap Park Trail #866
48 Zimmerman Lake
R AWAH W ILDERNESS
49 Blue Lake Trail #959
50 Rawah Trail #961
51 West Branch Trail #960 to Twin Crater Lakes
NORTH PARK AREA TRAILS
C OLORADO S TATE F OREST S TATE P ARK
52 American Lakes
53 Kelly Lake
54 Lake Agnes
55 Ruby Jewel Lake
N EVER S UMMER W ILDERNESS A REA
56 Baker Pass
R OUTT N ATIONAL F OREST
57 Arapaho Ridge Trail #1135
58 Teller City
Z IRKEL W ILDERNESS
59 Bear Lakes/Ute Pass Trail #1180
60 Big Creek Falls Trail #1125
61 Bighorn Lake Trail #1040
62 Lake Katherine Trail #1157
63 Rainbow Lakes Trail #1130
64 Red Canyon Trail #1131 to Lost Ranger Peak
65 Seven Lakes Trail #1125

References
Index
P REFACE
A lot has happened in my life since I wrote the first edition of this guide. In the intervening seven years, I went on for a master s degree at the University of Michigan, brought twin girls into this world, and opened a used bookstore in Laramie, Wyoming. I am no longer the footloose outdoor zealot I was during the four years of intensive research I put into the original edition of this book. In writing this revised edition and returning to the lifestyle of the outdoor writer, I have been reminded what a great honor it is to take the reader by the hand and lead them into uncharted terrains.
It became clear to me that a new edition of the guide was necessary when I looked around Fort Collins and saw the astounding changes going on with the city and county open spaces of the area. With the construction of the Blue Sky Trail , a 9.75-mile trail spanning the foothills between Fort Collins and Loveland, and the completion of work on the Coyote Ridge, Gateway Mountain Park and Eagle s Nest Rock Trails, Fort Collins has become a hiking destination in its own right. For this reason, I also made the decision to alter the title of the book. Formerly titled Trail Guide to Northern Colorado: Hiking and Skiing in Fort Collins, Poudre Canyon and North Park , the new edition s focus on Fort Collins reflects the expansion of the Around Town sections of the book. The elimination of the ski sections of the old edition will also make the book a more packable and affordable piece of outdoor equipment.
I mentioned in my original Preface that I wrote the book while living in the small town of Walden, 100 miles west of Fort Collins, and that because it was easier for me to get to Red Canyon than it was to get to Horsetooth Rock the book inevitably emphasizes wild places. This time around, I revised the book while living in Laramie, Wyoming, and I believe my outsider eyes (although I graduated from high school and received my BA in Fort Collins) have allowed me to see what a wonderful gift the community of Fort Collins is giving itself through its city and county open space programs. Over the last couple decades I have watched the Front Range grow by leaps and bounds, and yet a person can now walk freely from the city limits of Fort Collins to the outskirts of Loveland with no worries but rattlesnakes.
But we mustn t take our eye off the long-term goal: I quoted Aldo Leopold once and I ll quote him again. There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. We live in the West because the horizons appear to go on forever, a constant reminder of a greater mystery beyond us. By walking tracelessly into that forever on foot, we acknowledge the essential value of wild things to a healthy society and to future generations.
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my good friends, Bonnie and Joshua Butler, for their companionship over miles of trail, for graciously letting me use their living room floor during the course of my research for this book, and for the use of some of the photos included in it. To my friends Terry Gimbel and Rick Gardner at the Colorado State Forest State Park, thanks for providing me with history, safety, and wildlife insights along the way. Vern Bentley, Hal Wentz, Kathy Kennedy, and Anne Carlstrom at the Routt National Forest also generously shared their knowledge about the Zirkel and Never Summer Wildernesses. Thanks to Dan Hillhouse and my father, Jay Edwards, for the fly fishing scoop. Thanks also to Jim Dustin, editor of the Jackson County Star, for the opportunity to get the word out that North Park is where it s at.
I thank the staff members at the Larimer and Jackson County libraries and the North Park Pioneer and Fort Collins museums for their patience and thorough knowledge of local history. Muchissima gracias to Aaron Gale and Krista Smith for their trail companionship. Thanks go to my mother, Carol Edwards, for the Lake Katherine photograph, the help in editing, not to mention her enduring belief in me, throughout the making of this book. And thanks to my husband s parents, Rich and Jeanne Koschnitzki, for passing on a treasure trove of Geological Survey maps, a true heirloom, and for bringing your son into this world to share mother nature with me for a lifetime.
Special thanks go to Chris Mueller at the Jackson County Geological Information Services for his mapmaking expertise and infinite patience with my maniacal perfectionism. Finally, I am immensely grateful to my husband, Ken Koschnitzki, who helped greatly in the editing process and who clocked many a mile and shared many a breathtaking moment with me from the top of a mountain. I couldn t have done it without you, Ken.
I want to acknowledge the contributors who donated funds to cover the cost of producing the maps. Thanks go to North Park State Bank; Flies Only Tackle Shop; Owl Mountain Partnership; Western Environment and Ecology, Inc.; the North Park Chamber of Commerce; the Routt National Forest; Colorado State Forest State Park; North Park KOA; and North Park Odd Fellows Lodge No. 118, I.O.O.F.
I used maps from many sources, including park brochures, flyers, leaflets, city bike-route maps, and county natural-area handouts. However, most of my map information was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey topographical maps and by maps for Routt, Arapaho, and Roosevelt National Forests. I used a wealth of fascinating historical research in an effort to give each hiking trail a richer sense of place. Please see the references section for more information on historical sources.
INTRODUCTION

A S HORT H ISTORY OF N ORTHERN C OLORADO

Geology
The region we now consider northern Colorado once formed the bottom of an ancient seafloor. Only after the sea receded did the Rocky Mountains begin to rear up, turning whole ridges of stone on end along ragged fault lines to form such familiar local sites as the Nokhu Crags near Cameron Pass, later spewing volcanic debris over the surface of the new mountain ranges to create the pink-tinged summits of such peaks as Iron Mountain and most of the peaks of the Never Summer Range. Where th