Roosevelt National Forest: Columbine Ridge and Frog Pond Trails

 This morning I made the drive down into Colorado to do some hiking in the Red Feather Lakes area. My goal for the day was to hike the rest of the trail system that originates at the Mount Margaret Trailhead, specifically the Columbine Ridge Trail and the Frog Pond Trail.

I arrived at the trailhead and hit the trail.

I followed the Mount Margaret Trail to the East Dowdy Lake Trail 

where I followed a scenic ridge. Along the way were great views of the interesting rock formations and a few views of the distant high peaks.

Besides the rock formations and mountains, there were plenty of wildflowers in bloom, especially stonecrop,

geranium,

and columbine.

The Columbine and Columbine Ridge Trails passed through alternating areas of meadows 

and ridges 

with the Columbine Ridge Trail terminating at a nice view of Mount Margaret and the surrounding area.

I retraced my steps a bit, passed lots of interesting rock formations 

and made my way over to the Columbine North Loop and then Frog Pond Trail. Frog Pond Trail wasn't the most interesting. I passed a herd of cattle,

before making my way to the end of the trail at a dry Frog Pond.

From Frog Pond I made my way back to the trailhead via the Mount Margaret Trail. It made for a hike that totaled just over 14 miles. 

Roosevelt National Forest: Signal Mountain from Pingree Park Road

 This morning we woke up, packed up camp, and started to head down Pingree Park Road to the trailhead for today's hike up to Signal Mountain. There isn't a parking lot at the trailhead, just a wide spot on the road to park at. The view from there was pretty good and the views would only get better as the day went on.

We hit the trail and immediately descended a few hundred feet to Pennock Creek, which we would follow upstream for several miles as we ascended to the ridge of Signal Mountain. There were lots of pretty little cascades on the creek.

We continued our ascent, eventually veering away from the creek. 

Soon, we reached a tall rock spire.

Maybe a mile after passing the rock spire, we emerged out of the trees and made our way through the alpine tundra.

I felt pretty out of shape and so we stopped pretty frequently to rest and admire the blooming wildflowers.

We continued on 

and soon enough found ourselves on the summit. The views were pretty awesome!

After taking a lunch break behind some rocks to get out of the wind, we started to make our way down.

Even though it was a descent, it seemed to be pretty slow going. We saw a beautiful butterfly on the way down.

We made our way out of the Comanche Peak Wilderness,

and soon after had the short, but steep ascent back to Pingree Park Road and the car.

Roosevelt National Forest: Big South Trail

 For this week's days off, I headed up Poudre Canyon with a friend from work for a couple days of hiking in Roosevelt National Forest. Last night we camped at the Sleeping Elephant Campground. This morning it was a short drive a little further up the canyon to the trailhead for the Big South Trail.

Originally, I thought we might hike in the high country. However, a forecast of high winds changed my plans, and we opted to stay down in the trees and canyon where theoretically the wind would be somewhat blocked. We arrived to an empty parking lot and hit the trail.

Flowers bloomed alongside the trail, including lots of columbine.

The trail closely followed the Cache la Poudre River and so besides the visual feast of the blooms, the sound of rushing water was omnipresent.

We continued to make our way further up the trail.

Every now and then fallen trees blocked the trail. However, it was fairly easy to climb over, under or go around them, at least at first. We stopped a few times to take breaks and inspect the campsites along the way.

There were many great views out over the canyon.

At about 3.5 miles up the trail the fallen trees slowed progress to the point where we decided to turn around and head back towards the trailhead. It was early in the day and without a rush to find a campsite, we took our time, stopping often to admire the flowers and views.

Once we returned to the car, we took a drive up to Cameron Pass. We had thought we might eat lunch there, but the wind was pretty strong. Instead we opted to head back towards Pingree Park Road where we would find a dispersed campsite for the night. When we approached the Arrowhead Lodge we realized that the Forest Service Visitor Center there was open and decided to have a look around.

The volunteers stationed there were very kind. Having toured the lodge area, we headed up Pingree Park Road where we found a campsite for the night.

Roosevelt National Forest: Disappointment Falls from Elkhorn Creek Trailhead

 A family day out exploring northern Colorado! With beautiful weather forecast Noelle, Sierra and I headed up to the Elkhorn Creek Trailhead near Red Feather Lakes again. This time we would be doing a short hike to Disappointment Falls. We had hiked to the falls before, from the Lady Moon Trailhead and during the winter when the falls were frozen. I was excited to see what the falls look like when they are actually flowing. 

We hit the trail and immediately we saw a cow that seemed a bit stressed out. It seems she was separated from her calf who we would see a little further up the trail.

We made our way through meadows and mixed forest.

Wildflowers bloomed and the typical Red Feather Lakes rock formations were stunning as usual.

A short distance into the hike we found ourselves at the ruins of a log barn.

From the barn the trail continued west, parallel to Elkhorn Creek and passing more interesting rock formations.

Soon, we were at the falls. They are not the most impressive, but not a disappointment either.

After about 20 minutes relaxing and exploring the area near the falls, we started to make our way back to the trailhead through more beautiful scenery.

Because the hike to the falls had been so short, we opted to head to the nearby Drala Mountain Center to check out the stupa.

From there we headed into Fort Collins for lunch at Young's Vietnamese Cafe.