Many miles from foothills to plains ready for visitors

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

The human experience with the rugged, wild and far-reaching landscape of northern Colorado changes once again on June 6.

Instead of Paleo-Indians hunting huge bison, or homesteaders scraping out a living, the hills and valleys will be the new playground of equestrians, mountain bike riders, geology buffs and people who just like to hike through a pristine environment.

Opening with fanfare to the public on June 6 and 7 are Larimer County's Red Mountain Open Space and Fort Collins' Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, both hugging the Wyoming border. These 50 square miles were purchased with grants and voter-approved sales tax dollars. In recognition of everyone's role in financing the projects, there will be no fees charged to visit these adjacent open spaces. Together, the sites have more than 50 miles of trails.

Red Mountain and Soapstone are part of the region known as the Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project, a connection of lands owned by ranchers, farmers, state and local governments. Together they provide unhampered wildlife corridors and tracts of land large enough to support rare species of plants and animals, including the swift fox and ferruginous hawk.

"Everything an animal could want or need is provided," said Rob Novak, educational program coordinator for Larimer County.

One might say the stars aligned to bring these pieces together. The large ranches that once made up Red Mountain and Soapstone came on the market at the same time Great Outdoor Colorado had allocated large sums of grant money for landscape-scale preservation projects. A joint proposal from Larimer County and Fort Collins qualified for funding.

"We had no idea how awesome the cultural and natural resources are until we got in there," said the county's open lands manager, K-Lynn Cameron.

Festivities on Saturday run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both locations. Visitors can take in fun activity booths and orientation talks. Red Mountain will offer mountain bike tours and wildflower hikes. The Ram Nation Drummers will perform at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Soapstone Prairie north trailhead.

On Sunday, grand opening ceremonies start at 11:30 a.m. simultaneously at the Red Mountain trailhead and the Soapstone Prairie north trailhead. A full schedule of June 6 and 7 events is available online at www.fcgov.com/news/index.php?id=2782&home.

After June 6, Soapstone and Red Mountain will be open from dawn to dusk, March through November. No dogs are allowed. The open spaces will be closed December through February because the lands are critical winter range for pronghorn, deer and elk.

To reach Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, travel north on County Road 15, continuing north when it becomes Rawhide Flats Road, which leads to the south entrance station, the location to park horse trailers. Cars can continue on to the north entrance, which is the location of the Lindenmeier Overlook and many of the events.

To reach Red Mountain Open Space, travel north on CR 15, turn west on CR 78, turn north on CR 17, turn west on CR 80, turn north on CR 19, turn west on CR 21 and continue about seven miles. CR 21 becomes Antelope Valley Road, which ends at the trailhead.

At this time, neither location allows backcountry camping.

Get out and enjoy the trails from dawn to dusk, but go prepared with water, food and map.

It's rugged out there.