Fort Collins - Soapstone Prairie (east loop)

It was the Friday before Memorial Day and I hadn't been out on the trail for a while.  The weather forecast called for more rain and/or snow, so I decided to head out to Soapstone Prairie.  Soapstone is a nice place to go if you like prairie hiking.  For me, the pro to prairie hiking is you can go for relatively long distance loops but not have to ascend thousands of feet.  The con is that the scenery is pretty much the same throughout the hike.

The View

 According to my plan I would hike a 17 mile loop along the east edge of Soapstone Prairie.  According to the introductory signs at the trailhead, I was to stay away from the prairie birds and watch for rattlesnakes.  Ok, at least I didn't have to worry too much about bears or mountain lions!

Along the way I saw many pronghorn antelope, but there are no pictures as they would scatter when I got within a few hundred yards.  I also so a small number of Elk, a couple of people and, oh yeah, a rattlesnake.

Rattlenake

He was laying in the grass when I spotted him about four or five feet away.  He was laying perfectly still and blended well with the grass.  I was a bit surprised in that he was more green than I expected. He lay still until I stopped to take a picture, then he decided I needed to go away, so coiled and rattled.

A sight to be seen in Soapstone Prairie is the Lindenmeier Folsom Archeological Site.  You can learn more about that here.  It turns out that about 10-15000 years ago the area of Soapstone was wetter and cooler than it is today.  This led to it being a good spot for Folsom era Paleo-Indians to camp.  In the 1920's a pair of amateur archeologists from Fort Collins found the site.  It was declared a Historic Site in 1961.  Today, there is a kiosk telling the story of the dig.

All in all it was a good hike that kept the blood pumping.

Soapstone Prairie

Wildflowers on the prairie

Weather to watch

Prairie after a good rainy spring

Overall Statistics for Ft Collins - Soapstone Prairie

 Length 17.837 miles

 Start Elevation - 6054.13 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 7029.00 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 6054.13 feet

 Date of Hike - May 29, 2015

 Start Time - 08:04 AM

 End Time - 03:03 PM

 Total Duration -     6:59 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 2012.40 feet

 Total Descent - 1946.36 feet

 Net Ascent - 66.04 feet

 Maximum Grade - 16.67%

 Average Speed -  3.74 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 306.17 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  4.89 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  3.97%