Arthur’s Rock
The views have everything you could ask for except high snowy peaks. They’re here but hidden by the terrain. To see them, take an easy 3-mile walk into the rolling hills behind the Rock. Continue a short distance on the main trail, then branch right onto Timber Trail. After 0.8 miles through pleasant woods, turn left on Westridge Trail. Follow this old jeep road as it winds the wooded ridge that concealed the splendid peaks. As the trail tops out, near 7,000 feet, you’ll get sustained views of Meeker and Longs to the southwest.
Gully to summit of Arthur’s Rock
After a lovely half mile on the ridgetop, the trail drops to join Howard Trail, which rejoins Arthur’s Rock Trail in the gulch. Or you can branch right and get to your vehicle via the Mill Creek Link, where you’ll be treated to views of red hogbacks and rolling grassland. In the field at the bottom is what looks like an assembly of hobbits’ cabins. What is it really? A horse jumping course!
Summit boulders, Arthur’s Rock
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269B, then CO 14 west to Fort Collins. Turn right onto Riverside Avenue, which becomes Jefferson Street, and right again onto North College Avenue (US 287). Continue straight on US 287B when US 287 veers north. Pass through Laporte, veer left on Rist Canyon Road, cross the river, then turn left on North CR 23. Proceed 1.4 miles, turn right on Lodgepole Drive (North CR 25G), and continue to the Lory State Park entrance. The trailhead and parking area are 2 miles down the park road. 1 hour, 40 mins.
6 Greyrock Mountain
This peak looks like a big ice cream sundae, but you’ll have to work to earn the treat. A favored hiking destination for more than a hundred years, it is a popular backcountry challenge with some bouldering near the top.
At a Glance
| Difficulty | Distance/Time | 8 miles/3.5 hours | |
| Trail Conditions | Trailhead ElevationTotal Hiking Gain | 5,600 feet2,000 feet | |
| Children | Features | Mountain ascent, views, meadow | |
| Scenery | Best Season | Fall, winter, spring | |
| Photo | Other Users | Dogs on leash | |
| Solitude | Notes | Toilets at trailhead | |
| Property | Roosevelt National Forest | Jurisdiction | U.S. Forest Service |
Recreational hikers have been climbing this scenic mountain for many years. The first Greyrock trail was constructed in the 1910s under the direction of a visionary forest ranger. The one in use today, Greyrock Trail (FS 946), was mostly built in the 1930s, by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This popular New Deal program employed young, unmarried men in projects to improve the nation’s forest and recreation resources. Enrollees worked six-month stints for up to two years in return for food, clothing, shelter, and $30 a month (about $550 these days). The catch was that most of these young men’s earnings had to be sent home to their parents.
Greyrock Mountain
Soon after you cross the footbridge over the Cache la Poudre River, the highway sounds fade away. After hiking 0.7 miles through a gully, you’ll turn right at a junction where two valleys meet. Ascend the right-hand valley, much of which was burned in the 2012 High Park fire. The burned area is obvious but not oppressive; some trees survived and there are many other signs of life. In spring you’ll find white-violet harebells, blue lanceleaf chiming bells, and purple pasqueflowers. Watch out for poison ivy along the stream banks; this post-fire invader has three shiny green leaflets which turn red in fall.
Eventually the trail curves right into a side gully, then crisscrosses as it climbs. Soon views of the Poudre Valley open up to the south. As you wrap around a shoulder, Greyrock Mountain juts into the air ahead of you: a seemingly inaccessible molten mound. It’s hard to believe a hikers’ trail goes to the top of it.
Greyrock is a visible extrusion of the Log Cabin Batholith, an emplacement of magma that rose through fractures in overlying gneiss and schist about 1.4 billion years ago. Though undeniably gray, it is classified as Silver Plume granite, which is a slightly pink igneous rock found all over this region of the Rockies.
At 2.3 miles you’ll arrive below Greyrock’s face, at a junction in a meadow with a park bench. Turn right and traverse steeply, close to the imposing wall. The route markers here can be confusing; wooden posts and metal plates are more reliable than stacked-rock cairns. After climbing right, the route curves left to reach a surprising stretch of sand flats and trees. Continue through them and over some rocks, past a picturesque pothole pool, to the obvious summit.
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers install a sign on Greyrock Mountain
From the top, the extent of the 2012 wildfire looks extraordinary. In fact, what you see is only part of the damage, which was caused by two adjacent blazes that burned a month apart. The main fire ignited when lightning struck a tree across the valley. Response was rapid, coordinated, and diligent, but more than 87,000 acres burned over several weeks, making it the second-largest wildfire, by area, in Colorado’s recorded history.
Descending from the summit of Greyrock Mountain
When you return to the junction below the face, you have a choice: descend by the same route, or extend the hike 1.5 miles by making a loop through the beautiful meadow to the west along the 2.7-mile Greyrock Meadow Trail (FS 947). The latter choice is a nice walk, but a tidy amount of exercise since all the elevation lost to reach the meadow is regained—and then some—to get over a ridge before descending a grassy hillside on rocky switchbacks.
Back at the Poudre River, look for a bench on the bank before the bridge. It’s an excellent spot to sit and enjoy the flowing water for a spell before getting in the car.
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269B, then CO 14 west and US 287 north through Fort Collins. Turn left to continue on CO 14 (Poudre Canyon Road) and proceed 8.5 miles to the Greyrock parking lot, on the left. The trail begins on the other side of the road; be careful crossing it. Additional parking is available along the highway. 1 hour, 40 mins.
7 Mount Margaret
This might be the gentlest trail you’ll ever take to climb a mountain. As you wind through tranquil meadows and aspen groves to a low summit east of Red Feather Lakes, you might remember the familiar song of a celebrated “Indian princess.”
At a Glance
| Difficulty | Distance/Time | 8
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