Red Feather - Columbine Complex and Mt. Margaret

I was perusing the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers website and discovered that near Red Feather Lakes, there was a series of trails called the Columbine Complex.  After looking at the map, I decided that I could get a nice day in by tackling the Columbine Complex and, if I had energy and time, would go back and check out Mt Margaret.  I hadn't been to Mt Margaret since November, 2013.

After a nice drive up to the Mt Margaret Trailhead, I set out on the trail.

To reach the Columbine junction, you must hike about 2.5 miles of the Mt Margaret Trail.  Once on the Columbine, it was a nice easy walk through forest and rolling, boulder strewn country.  Very nice, very quiet.  Although the mosquitoes were out, there were plenty of flowers and grass knee-high.  Early summer is beautiful here.

I continued up to the the end of the trail at Columbine, then hiked back down to the Columbine Ridge Trail.

The road goes further, but it is soon becomes private property

The Columbine Ridge trail is a spur off Columbine that takes you along a rugged granite ridge.  The ridge is quite impressive, but the forest made it difficult to get any decent pictures.  Once to the end of the Columbine Ridge, I retraced my steps to the Columbine Ridge Loop.  The Columbine Ridge Loop is a short alternate that leaves the Columbine Ridge and then loops back about a half mile or so.  The trail is not difficult and is deep in the forest.  Back on the Columbine Trail, I then took the North Loop, which is just a cutoff that joins the Mt Margaret Trail a little less than a mile from Mt. Margaret.

Pile of sawn lumber and an old car

An old stove in the middle of nothing.  Hmm...

Poor representation of Columbine Ridge

Another poor view

Look up Prairie Divide valley from Divide Trail

On to Mt. Margaret, then heading back, I still had some time and energy, so I make a spur of the moment decision and tackled the Divide Trail.  This is a spur off the main trail that takes you to a nice viewpoint of the Prairie Divide valley.

Once back on the Mt. Margaret Trail, I headed back to the truck.  The weather had been great all day, but it was a good time to call it a trip because the afternoon rain was on its way.  I think this would be a great snowshoe trail.  I will check that out this coming winter.

Nice pond on Mt Margaret Trail

All in all another great day.

Overall Track Statistics for Red Feather - Columbine Cmplx,   1958 data points

 Length 15.609 miles  :  Garmin Length 16.154 miles

 Start Elevation - 8148.52 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 8185.27 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 7806.27 feet

 Date of Hike - Jun 22, 2016

 Start Time - 08:43 AM

 End Time - 03:07 PM

 Total Duration -     6:23 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 1892.36 feet

 Total Descent - 2008.40 feet

 Net Ascent - -116.04 feet

 Maximum Grade -  8.17%

 Average Speed -  2.44 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.52 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 258.99 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.15 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  3.23%