Rafting the Cache la Poudre

The other day I went into the Room of Doom, through the Maze, down the Devil’s Staircase. And that was just the start. After Decapitation there was Cardiac. I nearly ended in the Pine Box.

It was my wife’s idea. She said our 35th wedding anniversary needed some adrenaline. That got me worried. What did she have in mind? Rafting the Poudre. Twelve miles of Class III and IV rapids with scary names. On what was the highest water day of the year, so far. My wife, Matty, is the cautious one in the family. Except when it comes to raft trips.

She booked a half day trip (“The Plunge”) with Mountain Whitewater Descents, one of four outfitters that guide Colorado’s only “Wild and Scenic River” from Ft. Collins, Colorado.

At noon Melissa, a petite, athletic woman with a black pony tail and one of their most experienced guides mustered us for the briefing. With moments of dark humor we were reminded, in short, that this was not a water park, it was the real thing. We were part of a working team, not just riders. Our paddling would allow our guide to steer. Our ready response to commands would allow the guide to steer in the right direction.

We were told what we should do if tossed out of the raft, becoming an accidental swimmer. Swim feet Read the rest of this entry »

Coyote Ridge in Ft. Collins Open Space

Itching to get out and stretch your legs? Restless? A warm breeze, a few daffodils, robins hopping about the yard will do that to a person.

But here on these high plains all our favorite tramping grounds are bound in snow or slippery with mud. What’s a person to do?

Drop about a thousand feet. It always surprises me how much warmer it is, how spring comes a few weeks earlier in Ft. Collins, Colorado. And they’ve got a vast spread of foothill ground preserved for hikers, runners, mountain bikers and horsemen.

Coyote Ridge Trail makes a pleasant spring walk, especially for young kids with their folks or grandparents. It’s also a gateway to a bodacious run of gear grinding single-track for mountain bikers.

Prairie dogs surround the first mile of trail as it makes a straight, broad path through their colony. Accustomed to people, they pop in and out of their burrows, raise tails in alarm and pipe out a good squeal just to keep in practice. Some of the kids I watched were squealing back in delight. Read the rest of this entry »

New Year’s in Rocky Mountain National Park: You can set up the year just right.

My friend Sue said that the way you spend New Year’s Day is how you will spend the rest of the year. “Chinese tradition,“ she said. Wow. So how could I have a really great day and set fate on a roll to a splendid year?

Picture this: effortlessly gliding across a sparkling snow field under towering peaks beneath a bluebird sky. That was my plan. Cross country skiing. Why not Rocky Mountain National Park?

The afternoon of the first of twenty-ten I rushed into the visitors center, out of breath, having successfully run the gauntlet of Estes Park shops without spending a cent. The snowy-haired ranger looked at me like I was nuts. Wrong side of the park. Not enough snow on this side. Rarely is.

“Do you have snowshoes? The snowshoeing is very popular, up and around Bear Lake.”

“Well, yes,” I replied without enthusiasm. My snowshoes are huge. Made to carry a fully loaded behemoth across an ocean of deep powder. They weigh, I think, thirty pounds each. I don’t like them.

“Well, good,” he said. “Go up to Bear Lake.” Ok, so maybe I’ll get some fine sunset photos of that ships-prow of a mountain, Hallett Peak. Maybe the Tribune-Eagle will like them. It was an hour to sundown.

As I drove up the clouds came down, swallowing all traces of mountain. This could be Kansas with a low ceiling and pine trees for all I could see.

I found a place to park and hoisted the mighty snowshoes, poles and pack. Forgot to bring water. Great. “Don’t eat yellow snow.“ Famous Eskimo advice. Laden with gear, stumbling toward the trails across the icy parking lot, I would not let twenty-ten fizzle due to lack of effort.

Snowshoes strapped on, I pushed off. Heave ho. Heavily plodding up the hill, the tubular frames of the shoes banging into each other as I waddled, legs further and further apart. That was bad enough.

But everyone was be-bopping around me. Sweet college girls with tiny little snow shoes. Young fathers with toddlers bouncing in packs on their backs with tiny little snow shoes. Spry old ladies, yes, with tiny little snow shoes. These people were having a lot of fun. Read the rest of this entry »

Palmer Park, Colorado Springs, CO

The Oasis in the Middle of Colorado Springs, CO

Location:  Palmer Park sits right in the middle of Colorado Springs.  There are two entrances to the park.

To the WEST entrance: take Fillmore east, just past the major intersection at Union Blvd; you will see some medical office buildings, and then the golf course on the left.  Turn LEFT onto Paseo Rd, just at the end of the golf course.  It is a small street, but the sign is clearly visible.  Paseo winds past the golf course, through a residential area, and right into the park.  The actual park entrance is gated and marked by signs.

To the EAST entrance:  From Academy Blvd, turn WEST onto Maizeland.  There is a large park right there at that intersection, that’s the east end of Palmer Park.  The entrance is about 250 yards up on Maizeland, also gated and marked with signs.

What you need to know:

The only restrooms are at the west entrance.  There are picnic tables in several areas, but there is no water available, so make sure to bring your own.  Pets are welcome, in fact there is a dog park near the east entrance.  Wear good sneakers, and bring your mountain bike if you have one.
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Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

This has to be one of the most fun national parks in the country.   Children laughing, frolicking in the water, splashing through the next wave.  Families building sand castles. Teens flying colorful kites. Seniors watching in beach chairs under their canopies.  Kids climbing up the sand, sliding down on their plastic sleds.  Dogs playing at the ends of their tethers.  Proud fathers filming the glory of it all.

“A national park?” you ask.  Yes, even a wilderness area at that.  “On one of the coasts?”  Well, if Colorado has a coast, this has to be it:  Great Sand Dunes National Park in spring and early summer.

Justly famous for its dunes–the tallest in North America–the fun is where Medano Creek skirts the dune field.  The waters, having rushed down from the snow fields of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, reach the sand and spread out in a broad, many-braided flow of cool blue.  It’s all sand and water, just right for bare feet.

The flow of water pushes sand into temporary dams, momentarily reducing the current.  Then the dams burst, sending a wave into the laughing children.

With the rugged range as the backdrop and the great dune field in the foreground all this joyous mayhem couldn’t take place in a grander scene.

And when teens are looking for more adventure there are always the dunes themselves.  High Dune, at 650’, hovers above the “beach” and is the most popular destination.  On busy days people look like army ants, a marching column ascending the summit.  Further into the dune field is Star Dune, which at 750’ is the tallest.  Reaching its top is a real accomplishment.

Yet like so many things in the world this glory lasts for just a few weeks.  Late in June the creek flow dwindles and the water simply disappears under the sahara of sand.  By then the dunes are getting hot, up to 140 degrees on summer afternoons.  The crowds are gone, replaced by those who hike the dunes in the cool mornings and explore the mountains by day.
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North Cheyenne Canon Park, Colorado Springs, CO

I’ll leave the more serious, camping/backpacking locales for my father to write up.My hikes are of the day variety, nearby places where I can escape into nature for an afternoon or so.So, I’ve decided I’ll write up some of those places, for those out there who just want a place to get some fresh air, stretch their legs, maybe enjoy a picnic or do some nature photography.First up: North Cheyenne Canyon Park.

Directions: From I-25, take the Nevada/Tejon exit and turn south. Go just a few blocks to Cheyenne Blvd, and turn Right.Stay on, wind through the pretty residential areas, until the road ends at a three-way fork – You’re here! Just ahead on the right is the Nature Center.You can park there — there’s a trail running up from behind the center that leads to a wide picnic area — or turn diagonal right, between the yellow-striped posts, and head on up the road further into the park.

Equipment: Wear sturdy sneakers and bring a daypack with water and snack.You can fill bottles at the Nature Center.Dogs are welcome, just clean up after them.Mountain biking is also popular.Do watch out for poison ivy; it is common in the lower part of the park, near the stream.

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Pawnee Buttes

Has winter cramped your soul, crumpled it up like a wadded piece of paper stuffed into your chest? Do you just need to get out? But where to go in April, with the high country still in snow?

Try Pawnee Buttes. These two rugged outliers stand away from the retreating bluff, their capstone roofs towering in the sky. The northern Colorado National Grasslands offer enough space to stretch your legs and open your heart.

This great little hike begins with a good drive. Gas up, as there are few services in this part of the world. While there may be a faster way, the shortest and most picturesque from Cheyenne, WY takes you on Campstool Road, past the Wyoming Hereford ranch. You’re following the bed of the old Colorado & Wyoming Railroad, built in 1887 to tie Cheyenne to Sterling.

Past Carpenter turn south to Hereford, Colorado. Be careful at Hereford. At a confusing intersection take the gravel road to Grover. From there the “Pawnee Buttes” signs will guide you in.

On the sixty mile drive to the buttes you’ll find your breathing easier, with the ranchettes behind you, steadily moving on to big country, checking out the little towns that refuse to blow away. Beyond Grover stretches a vast wind farm, really a “wind ranch“, blades churning to the horizon, taking their little tax on the current of power flowing invisibly overhead.

The Buttes themselves aren’t visible until you reach the trailhead parking area. The two stand out from Lips Bluff, ruling over the prairie, as tall as massive 20 story buildings. Each has a double cap of limestone, stoutly sheltering the soft sandstone of their bases, holding out against the steady erosion of the larger world. (They remind me of many Wyomingites I know.)
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Rawah Lakes

Highlights: An overnight circle-on-a-stick backpack into the high alpine country we see on the far southwestern horizon from Cheyenne, Wyoming: the southern Medicine Bows. Here, above tree line, twelve pristine lakes sparkle in the shadow of North and South Rawah Peaks. Rawah is pronounced Ray’-wah and is a native American word meaning “wild place.”

Location: The Medicine Bow range south of the border in Colorado

Elevations: West Branch trailhead 8, 580’; high point at Grassy Pass, 11,220’

Distance: 19.3 miles without the spur trails

Maps: Rawah Wilderness by Mountain Jay Media; Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests; USGS quad Rawah Lakes; Roosevelt National Forest pamphlet “Rawah Wilderness”

Guide: Raymond Ave’s Backcountry Adventure Guide to Colorado’s Rawah Wilderness
is an excellent guide to it’s trails, history and geography.

Trailhead: From Cheyenne, take I-80 west 48 miles to Laramie exit 311. Go southwest on WY 230 24 miles to Woods Landing. Then take WY 10 south 34 miles (In Colorado it is County Road 103) until you come to the well-marked West Branch parking area. (An alternative would be to go to Ft. Collins, go west on CO 14 then north on CR 103.)

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Arthur’s Rock at Lory State Park, Ft. Collins, CO

Highlights: A fine spring hike to summit the granite crag overlooking Horsetooth Reservoir, Ft. Collins and the endless plains. During a moist spring, wildflowers are abundant.

Location: West of Ft. Collins, CO, about 50 miles south of Cheyenne, WY.

Elevations: Trailhead, 5,600’, Top of the Rock, 6,780’.

Distance: 1.7 miles one way

Map and Guide: “Colorado State Parks: Lory” pamphlet. The map and fine trail descriptions are also online at http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/Lory/Trails/LoryTrails.htm

Trailhead: Take I-25 south from Cheyenne, exiting at Wellington. Follow Colorado 1 west and south, making a right on N. College (US 287). In just 1 ½ miles go straight to Laporte. (From here you can follow the “Lory State Park” signs except for the last turn. That sign is gone.) Turn left at Vern’s Liquor (52E), then left at the Bellevue Store (23) then 1.4 miles and right on 25G. Continue 1.6 miles, turning left into the park. After paying your entrance fee at the visitor center continue south through the park to the last picnic area.

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Horsetooth Rock, CO

Highlights:  A short, pleasant, early season jaunt to the top “tooth” of this Front Range hogback, giving generous 360 degree views of mighty peaks, great plains and deep blue waters.

Location: Just west of Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Elevations: Trailhead at 5765`, Horsetooth Rock, 7256`.

Distance: Approximately 5 miles round trip, about a 3 hour walk.

Guides: Larimer County’s “Horsetooth Mountain Open Space” brochure; Caryn & Peter Boddie’s Hiking Colorado II.

Getting There: From Cheyenne, WY, take I-25 south to Harmony Road exit (#265), then west on Harmony.  Past the intersection with Taft Hill Road follow the signs to “Horsetooth Mountain Park“.  Harmony becomes CR 38E, climbing up to the Horsetooth Dam and then around the south end of the reservoir.   A large, well marked and well appointed parking area is on the right, about 58.5 miles from Cheyenne.  Daily permit is $6.  Toilets, water, picnic tables and free maps can be found there.

The Hike: Two trails begin at the north side of the parking lot.  Take the one on the right, signed to Horsetooth Rock.  There are what at first appears to be a bewildering number of trails in this 2,711 acre preserve.  Thankfully they are very well marked with steel posts.
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