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| From L to R- Dr. B, Winston, Dr. H, and Dr. S. in the parking lot on Deadman Rd. |
We had a great day of snowshoeing that was quite a surprise. We initially had plans to go to a new area west of Boulder that Christi and I had never visited, led by our fearless friend Dr. S. When we picked up Dr. S and Dr. B at 8am, the snow was already flying in Fort Collins, so we thought the drive to Boulder might be dodgy. Instead, we decided to live on the edge and head to the Red Feather Lakes area.
Red Feather Lakes is about 45 minutes northwest of Fort Collins. If you have never been there, it is well worth a visit, or many visits. It really is an impressive landscape, not only for the mountains that surround it but more for the smattering of large rock formations scattered throughout the many meadows and small lakes that dot the area. These are all encapsulated in evergreen forests filled with ponderosa, spruce and clumps of aspen. Incidentally, our snowshoe route took us through some stands of aspens with some of the largest aspen trees we have collectively ever seen.
I initially describe this trip as dodgy because, except for the last mile or two of the drive, we thought we may not have enough snow for snowshoeing. We thought we might enjoy a nice mixed conditions hike, but we indeed had plenty of snow. In fact, it snowed the entire time we were hiking. Our route was an out and back circuit on Deadman Road, a forbidding name, but quite a nice place. We probably went a total of 6 miles and had great snowshoeing conditions. Deadman Road is a Forest Service road that goes on for 20 or 30 miles and eventually connects with the Laramie River Road. Although I have not traveled the route personally, I believe one would be able to eventually link to roads that would wind into Laramie, WY or to Cameron Pass. I think we often fail to realize just how much public land there is in this corner of the world. We are talking lots, tons, a truckload here. Incidentally, I already have summer plans for a bike tour that will just do this, probably linking into Cameron Pass and heading back down the Poudre Canyon.
We all had a very nice snowshoe, caught a brief glimpse of a moose gliding through about 3 feet of snow like it was no problem at all, and topped off the trip with a couple of Girl Scouts on a Ski Lift (those were the names of the hot chocolate beverages imbued with some peppermint schnapps that we consumed at the Pot Belly Restaurant and Bar, another great place to visit). However, I personally believe Winston had the best time of all as he ran six times the distance we covered and enjoyed a lot more smells and then got to sleep the whole way home.
