Masonville - Bobcat Ridge Outer Loop

The forecast for the day was a snow/rain mix with temperatures in the upper 30s, low 40s.  Not exactly the best weather.  The original plan for this day was to tackle Crosier Mountain.  There are three trailheads to Crosier and all three had been closed since the September 2013 flood, but on (trail #931) was open; or at least that is what the forest service website said.  The only caution was that parking was limited at the trailhead because road construction crews used the area for equipment parking.  I had been up the Drake/Glen Haven road several time earlier in the year and construction was further up the road toward Glen Haven, so I felt good that I would find a parking spot.  Boy, was I wrong!  The entire road between Drake and Glen Haven is under construction.  In fact, I followed a pilot car the entire way.  It seems, they are completely rebuilding that road from scratch.  Hmm, what to do?  I needed to find a plan B.

My first attempt at plan B was to head to the H-bar-G Ranch near Estes Park and hike to Piper Meadows.  Only this past week, I had learned about Piper Meadows and it sounded like a good hike.  Since this was plan B, I only had my Trails Illustrated map to go by, but it seemed like it would get the job done.  I easily found the road to the H-bar-G trailhead and headed up.  It was snowing, the road was narrow, steep, and winding.  I got about half way up, put the truck in four wheel drive and continued up the hill.  It continued to snow and the road continued to get rougher, so I decided to turn around and come up with plan C.  Since I wasn't sure how much snow was going to accumulate today, I decided I didn't want to head down the road in the snow.  Hmm, what to do, what would plan C be?

Plan C turned out to be Bobcat Ridge Natural Area.  I've been to Bobcat Ridge several times.    Once or twice with my friend Galen, once or twice with the grandkids, and nearly a year ago (12/11/2014) on my own. At that time I clockwise hiked the Ginny and D.R. loops around the perimeter of the Natural Area.  You can learn a lot about the history of the area at this website (History of Bobcat Ridge area).

Track from 12/11/2014 hike.

Essentially I would be retracing that hike except counter clockwise.  Last time I went the direct route to the old cabin, this time I would take the west edge of the Valley Loop trail to the cabin and then around D.R. to Ginny.

Because this was plan C, I got a pretty late start (around 10a) and I wasn't sure how far I would go.  I didn't have any paper maps of the area, so I picked up a brochure at the trailhead.  Not as prepared as I usually am.

Near the junction of the Valley Loop trail and the Powerline trail there is a small area where a tipi once was.  My fifth wheel is a bit bigger than that.

Tipi Ring

I encountered the usual, "Watch for bears, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes' warning at the trailhead.  I didn't see any of those today, but I did encounter quite a few deer and some obnoxious, noisy chipmunks.

Deer (one of a small group of 8-10 animals)

As usual the deer stood and watched me carefully, but were not overly concerned with my presence.  Soon after encountering the first set of deer and as I was walking along, I heard this loud chirping noise very close to me on my right side.  It startled me and when I looked over to see what I had encountered, it was a chipmunk sitting on a limb chewing me out royally for invading his/her space.  I moved on.

The terrain on D.R. trail meanders the ridge lines slowly climbing the hill to Mahoney Park.  You seem to be close to the meadow, but then the trail curves around and follows the ridge.  This happens at least three or four times.  Mahoney Park is a big meadow surrounded by Green Mountain and some lower lying ridge tops.  The history claims this is a good area for a variety of wildlife.  I didn't see anything today, except a deer or two, but I can see where it would be a good place.

Mahoney Park

Mahoney Park information

Mahoney Park is strewn with a number of large granite boulders that are remains of magma pockets that cooled while the mountains were forming and then the covering rock eroded away, leaving the boulders.  Pretty cool actually.

After encountering the D.R, Ginny, Powerline trail junction, I began the gradual climb to Green Mountain.  The trail winds its way to the west side of Green Mountain, where you can get some good views of the mountains to the northwest, west, and southwest.

Look NW from Green Mountain

Looking West from Green Mountain

Looking SW from Green Mountain.

As you can see from the pictures, the day was cloudy and rain was beginning to threaten.  The climb down from Green Mountain to the trailhead is steep, rocky, and well used by mountain bikers, so I had to watch my step.  This trail also works through the remains of the Bobcat Ridge fires of June, 2000, so the scenery is kinda dreary.

Once back and nearing the trailhead, I saw a interesting formation in a tree.  What do you think it looks like?

What is it?

Even though I had to move to plan C it was a good day on the trail.

 Overall Track Statistics for track Bobcat Ridge - Outer Loop

 Length 12.275 miles

 Start Elevation - 5290.03 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 6988.65 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 5289.50 feet

 Date of Hike - Oct 30, 2015

 Start Time - 09:33 AM

 End Time - 02:20 PM

 Total Duration -     4:47 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 2459.09 feet

 Total Descent - 2205.31 feet

 Net Ascent - 253.77 feet

 Maximum Grade - 14.22%

 Average Speed -  2.56 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 554.76 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.09 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 10.21%