Horsetooth Mountain (Ft. Collins)

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In case you haven't figured it out yet, I like to go on hikes where the landscape is dominated by unique rock formations and geology. Horsetooth Mountain certainly satisfies that desire. At the mountain's summit is Horsetooth Rock, a formation that can be seen from Ft. Collins below. Horestooth Mountain Park is one of several Larimer County Open Space parks and provides nearly 30 miles of hiking trails. One of the trails (the Nomad Trail) connects with the popular Lory State Park to the north. Most of the trails start at the parking lot and picnic area off of CR 38E, just past the southern tip of the Horsetooth Reservoir (are we detecting a naming pattern here yet?).

Admittedly, I was rather underwhelmed by the scenery at the trailhead. There are virtually no trees and everything is rather brown and dry. This park is another one of what I've come to think of as "choose your own adventure" hiking areas (similar to Boulder's Flatirons area), as there are dozens of different trails bisecting the park. The route I chose starts on the Soderberg trail and climbs up to the start of the Horsetooth Rock trail. The Soderberg trail segment is quite tough in places and doesn't really provide any extraordinary views to speak of. Fortunately, the landscape changes dramatically once you reach the service road that the Soderberg trail combines with for a short time. At this point, the trail levels out for a while before coming to the intersection with the Horsetooth Rock trail. Now the trail climbs steeply for about two miles up to the rock itself, and the landscape becomes quite a bit more interesting. Rock formations and pine trees abound as you climb up the occasionally difficult to follow trail to the summit. The trail technically ends at the base of Horsetooth Rock, but the summit is accessible with a little bit of scrambling. Unfortunately, weather was starting to move in when I reached the end of the trail, so I had to forgo reaching the actual top.

To get to Horsetooth Mountain Park, visit this link: http://www.co.larimer.co.us/parks/driving_horsetooth.htm.

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