archives

By Suzanne Webel Many years have elapsed since my original trail log of Marshall Mesa, and a lot has happened there in the meantime. The grand opening of the new Marshall Mesa Trailhead seemed like a good impetus for revisiting an old friend. In the interest of giving positive feedback wherever possible, let me hasten to praise the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks for some good things they’ve done here. If you remember the funky liquor store and the tiny Ethiopian restaurant that used to draw crowds to the east side of the intersection of Highway 93 and Eldorado Springs Drive, you’ve just “dated” yourself. If you remember the bizarre black office building that sprouted overnight like a mushroom in their place but was never occupied, in a few years you, too, have become “dated.” In a fit of inspiration, OSMP bought the condemned building (it sat on burning and unstable coal mines), demolished it, and in 2006 built – TA DA! – the first (for them) modern, functional trailhead complete with landscaping, picnic tables, restrooms, water, and – drumroll, please – designated pull-through horse trailer parking! This is truly the highest and best use of that property, and we hope it remains a nice trailhead (P-1) for years to come. It replaces the old Marshall Mesa Trailhead, which was barely a wide place along the road, where there were none of the above amenities but lots of potential for accidents and conflicts (this old access point is now closed). More than 55 […]

By Suzanne Webel Thank you, Fort Collins!!! … for yet another miracle. Bobcat Ridge is the latest in a series of large open space acquisitions north of the border – more than 2,600 acres of mixed grassland, shrubland, ponderosa forest, red rock cliffs and granite outcrops, homesteads and meadows, that were purchased in 2006 and opened to the public in – gasp! — less than a year! The property opened in 2007 with about 17.6 miles of trail, and they’re still building more. In fact, during our ride at Bobcat Ridge in the fall of 2008, we followed a Sweco trailbuilding machine as it carved a new trail across a meadow.   Our horses left the first hoofprints. Highway 34 is the main route from Loveland to Estes Park. Follow it west (past the new trailhead for Devil’s Backbone) to its intersection with CR 27, just before a hogback causes the road to make a bobble. Turn north and proceed past sandstone quarries on the left and fruit orchards on the right, until you reach a small “Bobcat Ridge” sign pointing left at West CR32C. Duck west through a notch in the large hogback and you’ll arrive at the surprising and secret valley that is Bobcat Ridge Natural Area. Proceed past the old homestead barns and corrals, past the new vehicle parking lot and restrooms, to the expansive trailer parking area. There is space for six trailers to pull through, and even a spigot for horse water! The first time I went, in August 2008, I had

By Suzanne Webel They did it! They finally did it! Thanks, Open Space and Mountain Parks! Lest anyone think that the only news I ever report is bad news, here’s some great news: the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks has just expanded, and reopened, both trailheads at Doudy Draw and Flatirons Vista – and they now contain designated horse trailer parking. Ta da! These parking areas are the result of many years of patient (and sometimes not-so-patient) negotiating with OSMP over equestrian access to some of our favorite habitat: the Eldorado Mountain/Doudy Draw area south of Boulder. This area has provided, for me, countless hours of wonderful riding both on the existing trails and off them. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the solitary experience of exploring the old haunts of miners and ranchers, railroad workers and road builders, dinosaurs and bears. Like almost everything else, the world at Doudy Draw has changed.   Gone is the old trail at the bottom of the valley – too close to the babbling brook, too close to the bushes where a variety of birds chirp merrily year round – gotta protect some bushes and some birds. Gone is the fun access to the Lindsay Pond, the old railroad watering hole where our horses could get a much-needed drink – gotta protect some frogs. Gone is the privilege of riding off-trail through meadows and woods on Spring Brook Mesa, Bull Gulch, and the Sound of Music Saddle – gotta protect, well, something up there. Gone is the old bridge across