Fort Collins - Horsetooth Outer Loop

Fort Collins - Horsetooth Outer Loop

I was looking to hike something that would meet three objectives: 1)relatively close to home, 2) could be made fairly long, but with bailout points, and 3) had some good elevation gain.  I found that in the combination of Horsetooth Mountain Park and Lory State Park.  I had not been to Horsetooth Rock since 2008, so that had to be on the list.  Earlier this year I had hiked the Tower Trail to the radio towers, and I had hiked several times along the base of the mountain along Horsetooth Reservoir.  I decide that today would be a good day for an 'outer loop' hike.  I would work to hike the perimeter of Horsetooth Mountain Park, dipping into Lory State Park only as much as necessary to make a good loop.

The day was a bit mixed.  Clouds would roll by, sun would shine for a few minutes, then more clouds.  Eventually is snowed a little, but hardly enough to get the ground damp.  The temperature was in the mid-30s, but there was a consistent wind that made if feel quite a bit colder.  I parked at the upper parking lot, paid my six dollars, and hit the trail.

The climb to Horsetooth Rock is steep and long (about 2.5 miles).  The trail was in good shape until I got to within about a quarter mile of the top.  There it began to get extremely icy.  Even with my YakTrax I had to take care to pick my way around the most severe ice.  When you reach Horsetooth Rock you can climb about 30' or so to get to the gap .  Given the ice and snow on that stretch, I chose to skip that part.  The scenery from Horsetooth Rock is quite nice.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Horsetooth Rock

And I found a miniature snowman.

Snowman!

From there I headed back down to the junction of Horsetooth Rock Trail and WestRidge Trail.  Taking WestRidge Trail I headed for the radio towers.  WestRidge Trail takes you below and north of the radio towers where you have to climb a steep service road to the towers.  There is an unofficial side trail about half way to the towers that follows the ridgeline.  I took that trail directly to the south tower, then down and back up to the north tower.  The view from the north tower is nice too.

Mountains west of Horsetooth towers

From there I went to Mill Canyon.  This is a steep down hike in a densely forested area.  Along the way, I found the fur and bone remains of some small animal, maybe a rabbit.  Eventually the Mill Canyon Trail meets with the Mill Creek Link Trail to Lory State Park.  I took this and ate lunch at the Arthur's Rock trailhead in Lory.  I headed back out along the Shoreline Trail back to Horsetooth Park, then up Sawmill to Stout and then back to the truck.

Hogback Valley from Lory State Park

Except for the severe ice near Horsetooth Rock the trail was well packed, but with patches of ice.  I used my YakTrax on much of the trail on the north sides of the mountain.  It was a very quiet day.  I met no one, saw no animals, and was only squawked at bir a old crow once.  All in all this hike met all the objectives for the day.

Overall Track Statistics for Ft. Collins - HorsetoothOuterLoop,   2138 data points

 Length 14.247 miles  :  Garmin Length 15.032 miles

 Start Elevation - 5794.85 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 7184.42 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 5508.79 feet

 Date of Hike - Jan 25, 2016

 Start Time - 08:18 AM

 End Time - 03:37 PM

 Total Duration -     7:18 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3997.01 feet

 Total Descent - 4022.67 feet

 Net Ascent - -25.66 feet

 Maximum Grade - 21.67%

 Average Speed -  1.95 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.05 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 712.60 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.84 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 12.40%