Coyote Ridge

Stacie and I wanted to back off the difficulty a little bit on this weekend’s hike, so we visited a close by Fort Collins trail, Coyote Ridge.  The trail has lots of options for different difficulties and distances.

The trail started out in the prairie for the first half mile. Along the sides of the trail were numerous prairie dog colonies, with plenty prairie dogs running around.  The trail through this first section is wide and smooth, easily wide enough to walk side by side and still leave room for other hikers to pass.

We could easily see the first ridge all the way from the parking lot to the time we start climbing.  The first ridge looked like the smallest but still climbed 220 feet with an average grade of 5%. Once we got to the top the trail turned to the north and ran along the top of the ridge.

From the top of the ridge we had a great view of the plains to the east. Looking southeast we could see the city of Loveland and Lake Loveland.  After a short while we dropped down the back of the ridge and then slightly up again to the cabin and the nature loop.  There is a restroom here and the cabin makes a good place to take a break, with benches and shade.  We kept on going and started up the second ridge.

The second ridge wasn’t much of a climb; the trail curved around it to the north and gradually climbed up to the narrow gap between the second and third ridges. The second ridge never dropped down into a valley; it just leveled out for a very short distance and then started the third ridge right away.

The third ridge started around 1.7 miles, and it was the the most difficult climb. It was about half a mile long with an average grade of 8.5%, and there were several sections where the grade was 10 – 15%.   It was a tough climb, but we could feel the training we’d done on the rest of our hikes because we were able to hike straight to the top without stopping.

At the top of the ridge the trail turned south along the ridge line. This section was very short, and not that flat, but it did have the only real trees on the trail, and a few small sections of shade.

The back side of the third ridge was very steep, with grades up to 18%. We descended about 250 feet into a large meadow between the third and fourth ridges. The trail through the meadow was a nice break from the steep ups and downs of the ridges.

After we crossed the meadow the trail slowly climbed up the fourth ridge. The fourth ridge climbs 290 feet with an average grade of 7%.  It had been a hot day so far, but as we hiked up this ridge the breeze dropped off and the sweat really started rolling. There was no shade to take a break in so we kept on going.

When we finally got to the top of the fourth ridge we had to take a break for Stacie to get some blood sugar.  There was still no good place to stop we just sat down at the edge of a wider section of the trail for Stacie to have a few bites of an apple and some cheese crackers.  It was too hot to stop for very long, so we quickly got going again and finished the last bit of the Rimrock trail to the junction with the Blue Sky trail.

At this point we had hit our goal so we turned back.  The trip back down the fourth ridge wasn’t too bad, and crossing the meadow gave us a nice break before the climb backup the third ridge.  The climb up the third ridge was the hardest section of the hike, with constant 10 – 18% grades all the way to the top. We made it to the top without a break, but decided to stop at the top in the shade to take a food break and cool off a bit.

The clouds had been slowly building as we crossed the meadow, and by the time we started climbing down the third ridge there was a light cloud cover.  It was a relief to get out of the direct sun, and the rest of the trip back to the Hummer was a pleasant hike over the last couple ridges.

View all of the pictures: Photo Gallery

Trail Information:
Name: Coyote Ridge Trail / Rimrock Trail
Location: Between Loveland and Fort Collins on Taft Hill (Wilson) Rd
Length: 7.1 miles round trip 
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
GPX file:
Elevation Profile: