Soapstone Prairie Natural Area
This is the view looking west from the Lindenmeier Overlook that is at the end of a ~1/4 mile paved trail at the new Fort Collins natural area, Soapstone Prairie (there’s a nice informative 10 min video too). If you are in the area and haven’t heard about Soapstone, it is ~25 miles north of town along the Wyoming boarder. Parts of it connect to the new Larimer County Red Mountain natural area as well as a Cheyenne natural area.
Ashley and I went and hiked the 3 mile Towhee trail on July 5th. It is a relatively easy trail with only ~400 ft elevation gain occurring in the first mile and then a slow descent over the last two miles. Above and below are views from the trail near the 1/2 way point.
The photos do not do justice to how gorgeous this natural area is. Of course it was aided by our unusually wet and cool June. I’m not certain of the source or the validity of the claim, but someone told me before I went that some of the species on the prairie there only flower every two years and that the wet June coincided with the flowering cycle to produce an amazing wildflower display. I don’t know if that info is correct, but the wildflower display was unlike any I’ve seen in my ten years in Colorado!
The day was bright and shining when we arrived. Nice and cool with a fair breeze. All the sun let me play and learn more about my circular polarizer and neutral density filters. The large number of wildflowers let me play with my close-up filters too! We no sooner made a pit stop at the trailhead and it started to sprinkle. We couldn’t have planned it any better!
I’ll share a better look at the wildflowers after some more quality time with my newNational Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region
:-)
