Red Feather Lakes - Mount Margaret (November 29, 2013)

I consider this my first hike in the "retirement" plan, even though I was still working.  During this first year of hiking, I've used two books and a couple of websites to help me decide what hikes might be interesting.  The two books are  Hikes around Fort Collins, by Melodie S. Edwards and Best Loop Hikes Colorado, by Steve Johnson & David Weinstein.  This particular hike came from Hikes around Fort Collins.

Since this was the first hike, I really hadn't set down a set of routines about what to do when hiking.  I mean should I listen to my iPhone, take a lot of pictures, measure my track one way or round trip, explore on- or off-trail, etc.  I know some of you are saying;  "riiight".....  Just go with the flow, Dad.

When I get home from a hike, I download the information from my GPS and look at the track and elevation profile.  Why, you ask?  The track will tell me how far I went and what route I took.  The elevation profile tells me how much I went up or down hill.  Again, you ask, why?  Well just because.

If I find interesting things along the hike I will try and mention them and give a little context to any pictures I post.

I drove up to the Mt Margaret Trailhead early morning.  The trailhead is just a few miles short of the Red Feather Lakes Village and junction to Dowdy Lake.  In fact, you can go to Dowdy Lake and take a slightly shorter trail to Mt. Margaret.   There was a bit of snow on the ground, but not much.  More importantly, the truck was the only vehicle in the parking lot (Yay!).  I decided right then and there that, if there was one, I would always take a picture of the trailhead marker.  Otherwise I might forget where the pictures came from.

When hiking with the Grandkids, I tell them "for every up there is a down and for every down there is an up".  In most cases the up comes first and since this is a hike to "Mount" Margaret you would think you go up to a "Mount", but no....  Not in this case.

As you can see, Mt Margaret is at a lower elevation than the trailhead.  That makes going easy, coming back, less so.

The trail meanders along with several intersecting trail junctions to Parvin Lake, Dowdy Lake, and some backcountry campsites, but stay on a general NNE trail and it leads you right to Mt. Margaret.  Most of the trail is in a moderately dense forest of what looks like lodgepole pine.  I am not a tree expert so don't take that "lodgepole pine" to the bank.  You discover that you have gotten to Mt Margaret for three reasons 1) the trail ends at a bunch of rocks, 2) you are on a ridge line where everywhere you look is down, and 3) there is a sign that says "Mt Margaret".

After scrambling up a small rock pile, you find yourself at the summit of Mt Margaret.  The view from here is pretty nice, looking North into Wyoming and down onto Prairie Divide Road.

All in all this was good first hike, although it would be another month before I took another.  Here are some of the basic statistics for the trip:

Length: 8.25 miles

Starting Elevation: 8200 ft

Ending Elevation: 7800 ft

Start Time: 750am,  End Time: Noon,  Duration:  4 hours

Average Grade: +/- 1.6%

Average Speed: 2.1 mph