Red Mountain July 2009

A few friends decided to join me on July 4th to ride Red Mt. Open Space in Larimer County. Larimer County and the City of Ft. Collins purchased an amazing parcel of land West of I-25 near Owl Canyon to the Wyoming border. A pristine landscape with many archeological features is now saved from development.

The day started out sunny and warm as we meadered through red wash canyons. We did a clockwise 10-mile loop that day. As we began to climb out of the canyon the weather began to change, and as we popped up on the rim into Wyoming, the skies opened up. Typical Wyoming weather, lightening, wind, rain and sleet. Woo Hoo! Our horses decided to turn their backs to the advancing storm and refused to move. Luckily we all had some type of rain gear and got it on quick. Water poured down and filled us up from head to toe, as one of the riders said, “there’s water in places it just should not be.” My husband had come along that day and hiked the trail counter clockwise, we all ran into him at the top of the rim. He raced on and continued down the trail towards the Big Hole Wash trail and when we met up with him again at the trailers he said that water was pouring down into the wash off the canyon walls producing waterfalls, so keep that in mind should you find yourself in the canyon wash when the weather changes. As the storm passed on, the trails turned to slick red mud and we carefully descended back down into Colorado on our way to the parking lot below.

If you go:
The Red Mountain trailhead is fairly remote and closes at dark, so come prepared. There is plenty of trailer parking and restroom facilities. Absolutely no dogs are allowed on the property not even in your car, so leave Fido at home on the couch for the day. Come prepared for quick weather changes, pack water and food just in case.