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By Suzanne Webel Ready for another foray to the North Country? Any time is a good time to explore this part of Larimer County, but “off-season” offers solitude and a sheltered foothills environment. Best of all, it’s an amazingly horsey environment. I rode this lovely park recently and there were more equestrians on that random day than all other visitors combined. It has been more than ten years since my first trail log for Lory, and in view of the many new trails and improvements that have been made since then, it’s high time for an update. Lory State Park was established by the State of Colorado in 1967 and encompasses 2,492 acres. It was named after Charles A. Lory, president of Colorado State University from 1909-1940 (imagine that — 31 years!). Lory shares many similarities with Eldorado Canyon State Park in Boulder County: both are very scenic, ranging from hogbacks and meadows to deep red rock canyons to densely forested granite mountains. Both are also relatively small but offer a wide range of recreational opportunities. Finally, both parks dovetail with a variety of other public lands on all sides. Lory’s many neighbors include Larimer County Parks and Open Lands’ Horsetooth Mountain Park to the south, the Bureau of Reclamation/Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s Horsetooth Reservoir to the east (which is in turn managed by Larimer County Parks), Arapaoh Roosevelt National Forest to the west,and the City of Fort Collins’ Reservoir Ridge and Campeau Open Space Parks to the northeast. But all these agencies cooperate in […]

by Suzanne Webel North Table Mountain has been hiding in plain sight forever. Those with insatiable curiosity and an incurable need for exploration, like me, have known that the park has been open for several years, with no designated trails and only a very snall, obscure trailhead (P-2); in fact, I wrote this area up as a BCHA trail log in 2004. But Jefferson County Open Space has recently built a beautiful new trailhead along Highway 93 (P), and they have just completed an 8.4 mile system of multi-use trails, so it’s worth revisiting. Go check it out! The terrific loops of old roads and new trails will take you past quarries, buttes, springs, and ponds with extraordinary views of mountains and plains. The park brochure waxes poetic about its natural resources: “The mountain is home to a resident population of about 80-100 mule deer, golden eagles, red-tailed hawks and prairie falcons as well as a small population of prairie dogs. Shore birds and ducks can be found around the three ponds that dot the top of the mountain. These spring fed ponds are the headwaters of two major drainages … that form narrow bands of riparian vegetation that almost completely bisect the property.” Sixty five million years ago, in a deep underground chamber somewhere west of Golden whose exact location remains a mystery to this day (perhaps at or near the Ralston Dike, about two miles northwest of the mesa), the earth became restless. Enormous blocks of solid rock jostled past each other and great