Loveland - Coyote Indian Summer Loop

Loveland - Coyote Indian Summer Loop

The weather was supposed to be great; especially for mid-February in Colorado.  It was a beautiful day.  The temperature was about 55, no wind, and blue skies.  I decided to stick close to home today and chose the Coyote Ridge Trailhead between Loveland and Ft. Collins.  This is a great trail to take from late-fall through early-spring,  I would not want to hike it in the summer, not a lot of shade.  

The Rimrock trail starts at this trailhead and works its way to the base of the first hogback on this part of the Front Range.  There is a nature trail here that describes the various types of plants and animals that live here where the prairie begins to meet the mountains.  I will need to bring the grandkids here later this spring.  The trail then climbs the first hogback with a couple of long switchbacks.  The view of the prairie and the City of Loveland is nice from the top (no picture though).  The trail then descends to the valley between the first hogback and the second, then ascends.  At the top of this smaller hogback you can see all the way from Horsetooth Rock in Ft. Collins to the Devil's Backbone in Loveland.  Taking the Blue Sky trail I descended down to this valley where, in a short while, I encountered the Indian Summer loop.  This loop climbs to the highest point on the hike, then loops back along an old rocky road to the Blue Sky Trail.  Once I completed the loop it was back to the truck and home.

This is not a very scenic hike, so there aren't too many good pictures.  I did get a picture of, what I think is, an eagle's nest in the cliff face of the second hogback.  

Eagles Nest on the right?

Today, I also decided to try and take a "selfie".  My first selfie while hiking.  I ended up have a few 'outtakes' and only one real selfie, which isn't very good.  Anyway, enjoy and laugh!!

Selfie Spot

Using the backpack for a placeholder

Setting up for the 'official' picture

Whoops!  Didn't get quit posed before the timer went off

My First Selfie

Overall Track Statistics for Loveland - CoyoteIndianSummerLoop,   1256 data points

 Length 10.971 miles  :  Garmin Length 11.173 miles

 Start Elevation - 5140.68 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 5843.73 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 5065.55 feet

 Date of Hike - Feb 17, 2016

 Start Time - 11:05 AM

 End Time - 02:53 PM

 Total Duration -     3:47 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 2091.80 feet

 Total Descent - 2166.93 feet

 Net Ascent - -75.13 feet

 Maximum Grade - 14.14%

 Average Speed -  2.89 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.94 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 416.04 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.56 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  7.34%