Come to Coyote Ridge…
Despite the fact that Coyote Ridge is about 5 miles from my house it took me 30 minutes to get there this morning. The straight forward way to get there is under construction until the end of September and both ways to easily get around that area of construction are also under construction so I had to go all the way to Loveland to get to Coyote Ridge which is really about half way between the two cities. Fortunately I was only about 5 minutes late and my hiking partner for the morning, Cathy, also got caught up in the construction craziness. So, about 6:45 am we set out on this fairly easy trail in a balmy (well for that early in the morning) 73 degrees.
I captured that panoramic above while I was waiting for Cathy. It captures the vast majority of the natural area on the east side of the ridges. It was quite the site!
Both the current trekking SIP and the FO socks (yet to be named) went on this roughly 2 mile trek. The first part of the trail that Cathy and I took this morning was quite wide and graveled. It wasn’t grated real even, but it wasn’t precarious for ankles or knees as long as you watched what you were doing. There were a couple short areas of semi-steep climbs, but easily doable.
Along the first mile of the trail you get to see a lot of high plains and montane shrubland plants. This included a lot of yucca, mullen, a couple different shrubs bearing berries, and some cacti of course. There was also wildlife to be seen such as this little cottontail having breakfast right on the edge of the trail. The prairie dogs were all over, but were very active so not particularly photogenic on this visit.
Because we got a bit of a late start and I was under time constraints due to my final root canal appointment (yes, it is all over, except the payments of course) we only hiked in the first mile to the bathrooms and a cabin that I guess can be rented out for parties. There was the log above nearby that would make a nice spot to stop and knit sometime when we aren’t on a time schedule. I don’t know what it is, but I love taking pictures of old logs, LOL! Then we turned around and took an easier trip back to the trailhead that allowed for some photo opportunities with the SIP…
