Sunday, March 19, 2023

Gateway Natural Area: Overlook Trail and Water Treatment Plant Road

 After lunch at the Colorado Room, we were all ready to burn some calories with another short hike. We had never taken Mom T up the Poudre Canyon before, so I thought it would be fun to make the short drive out to Gateway Natural Area to hike the short Overlook Trail, which we had skipped during our previous visit. 

It's a short trail, but it's also quite steep. The trail starts ascending immediately,


offering views of the surrounding mountains right off the bat. 


The trail makes a loop as you approach the top of the ridge. We opted to take the western part of the loop. There were some icy stretches on this part of the loop since it doesn't seem to get much sun. Still, Mom and everyone else safely negotiated the ice up to the end of the trail and a really nice overlook of the surrounding mountains, 



with a view down to the Cache la Poudre and Highway 14.


After a few minutes relaxing at the overlook, we started our descent back down the trail.


This time we took the east side of the loop.


Once we had made it back down to the bottom, we were in the mood to walk a little further, and so we decided to walk the gravel road that paralleled the river and cuts through the old water treatment plant.


 It is a very scenic, old road.



At one point, Noelle caught a glimpse of a herd of bighorn sheep up on the mountainside high above. I tried to take a decent photo, but they were too far away for me to get a decent photo.



We walked to the end of the road, which leads to a dam. Then, we started back towards the parking lot.


We drove out of the Poudre Canyon and over to Odell Brewing, where we ended our visit to Fort Collins with some beers. 



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