Soapstone Praire

Distance: 7 mile figure-eight loop
Elevation: 6,600 - 6,930 feet
Elevation Gain: 800 ft (cumulative)
Dogs: Not allowed at all
Bathroom at the Trailhead: Yes
Restrictions: Closed in the months of December, January, and February
Tags: #hiking, #coloradooutdoors, #paleoindians, #prairie, #fortcollins, #archeology

Mummy Range viewed from the green grasses of Soapstone Prairie Open Space

Soapstone Prairie is a city of Fort Collins Open Space that is nestled right along the border with Wyoming (25 miles north of the city). It is covered in rolling hills, unique rock formations, Pronghorn Antelope, and skies that are as broad as the history of North America.

Route taken

Parking Lot 

This area was set aside to protect the Lindenmeier archeological site, a 10,000 year old ice age indian campground originally excavated in the 1930s. This site is the most extensive Folsom tradition site yet found. A shaded kiosk exists overlooking the site and is only a short 0.3 mile trip from the parking lot.

Heading up the Towhee Trail

Looking down from the first ridge

So while the Mammoths, Sabertooth Tigers, and paleo-Bison have long since disappeared, the scenic beauty of this untouched prairie remains. It is not hard to imagine bands of hunters or small family units traversing the area unmolested by the jangle of cell phones. 10,000 years is but a micro-second geologically speaking and so the mountain views, grasses, and seasonal flowers are the same today as they were for our distant neighbors. The memories this place holds whisper softly in the breezes that make the grasses dance.

Snowy locoweed

A grassy field near the start of the Magnolia Loop

The route profiled here starts on the left side of the Towhee Loop, crosses the top of the loop to a short connector trail and then on to the Mahogany Loop, taken clockwise, then back across the connector to the right side of the Towhee Loop. At each trail junction is a large metal post. These posts all have a unique letter identifier on them, which are also listed on the trail map. I wish every trail was so marked!

Loop back on the ridge

Starting out on the Magnolia Loop

Parts of this route climb up grass-covered drainages while much of it stays on the high ridges with 360 degree views. There are exposed sections of soapstone, which gives the open space its name. Soapstone is a soft talc, basically baby power, that has been used for carving for hundreds of years.

Views to the south

On this trip we saw Pronghorn Antelope, Cottontail Rabbits, raptors, Prairie Dogs, as well as evidence of Badgers. In 2014, a group of highly-endangered Black-footed Ferrets was released here.

A soapstone rock formation

Erosion in action

To get to Soapstone from I-25, take exit 288 (Buckeye Road) west to County Road 15. Go north on CR 15 and turn north onto Rawhide Flats Road. Follow Rawhide Flats Rd to the entrance station. Soapstone Prairie is not accessible via I-25 exit 293 (CR 126/CR 5). Many of these later roads are gravel, rough and bumpy put totally passable by a passenger car.

O'Fallon Park: Meadow View and West Ridge Trails

Distance: 5.5 miles round trip
Elevation: 6,900 ft - 7,500 ft
Elevation Gain: 600 ft (net) 1,172 ft (cumulative)
Bathroom at Trailhead: Yes
Dogs: On leash (Denver Mountain Parks)
Date Hiked: 16 February 2014
Tags: #openspace, #coloradooutdoors, #kittridge

View from the vista point in the O'Fallon open space

O'Fallon park, located near Kittridge on Highway 74 out of Morrison, is a typical open space park that encompasses acres of rolling hills and Ponderosa Pine. Like all local open space, this park is great for a quick trail run, fresh-air fix in the off season, or as an alternative to 3 martinis after a stressful day. The park is adjacent to Corwina park, which in turn abuts Jefferson County's Lair O' the Bear Park. The Bear Creek Trail, which runs through all three parks, is primarily used by mountain bikers.

Trailhead

Secondary parking area just past the trailhead

The trails in O'Fallon park, like Meyers Ranch on nearby highway 285, are a series of connected loops that can make for shorter or longer excursions. On this trip we started out on the 0.4 mile unnamed connector trail to the Meadow View Loop (unlabeled on the map), to a vista point at at 1.4 miles, then on to the West Ridge Trail, which IS labeled on the map, and then back to the car. While the map itself lacks detail, there are signs on the ground to guide your way.

Heading up the connector trail

Bear Creek

The winter of 2014 has been a series of Arctic blasts followed by hurricane force winds and 60° temperatures. This meant that the day we hiked this, there were plenty of dry patches intermixed with total ice from the inscesent freezing and thawing of the snow. We wore microspikes the entire time and were just fine although we joked that we should have brought along our ice axes.

Junction of the connector trail and the Meadow Loop

Heading up the left side of the Meadow View Loop

The first 0.4 miles of the trail are relatively flat. At the beginning of the Meadow View Loop, we stayed left and climbed a grueling 600 ft  to a small vista point with lovely views of the surrounding hills. A short distance back down the Meadow View Trail (at 1.9 miles) is a three-way trail junction marked by a large kiosk and trail sign. Here the Bear Creek Trail continues southward and an unnamed spur to the West Ridge Trail heads back toward the parking lot. If you choose the Bear Creek Trail at this point, you can catch the West Ridge Trail (at 2.3 miles) at it furthest extent and thus have a longer hike (see map at the bottom of the post).

View of Mt. Evans from the first view point

Trail junction with kiosk

At 2.8 miles is another vista point covered in rocky boulders. You can scramble all over the area or zoom upwards just another tenth of a mile to the high point of the route at 7,500 ft.

A typical dryer trail segment

On the West Ridge Trail

From this point it is all downhill. Note at 3.3 miles there is another junction with the West Ridge Trail going to the right and the Picnic Loop going to straight. There was no trail sign here, but we were hiking with someone familiar with the trail and so made the turn correctly. At 3.9 miles we were back to the Meadow View Trail and at 4.6 miles we finished the loop and started back on the spur trail to the car.

Blue skies and a small Aspen Grove

By the time we returned to the trailhead, the air was warm and the parking lot was a sea of mud. With the schizophrenic weather this season, you need to make sure you have spikes, skis, water wings, and hip waders on every outing.

The map to O'Fallon Park is hard to read, even when printed. The Bear Creek Trail is dark red and obvious, while the hiker only loops are in light purple and are overpowered by the darker contour lines. Our route is outlined in blue arrows.