Where: Eagle's Nest Open Space - Livermore, CO
Distance: 5.3 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Wildlife: grasshoppers galore, insects, eagle?
This hike, as well as others I will post soon, is part of the Larimer County Passport to your Open Spaces program. (see link here: https://larimer.org/passport/)
We've done this hike before last year and returned today for the new passport program. The open space property doesn't seem to get crowded. You'll see a few hikers here and there and possibly even horse riders like we did today. But it seems the most crowded areas in Colorado lean towards the rocky mountains rather than the expansive open spaces. So in short, you probably don't have to worry about getting a parking spot. Because it is very open with not many trees, the sun's heat will beat down on you so you may want to bring sunscreen and a hat.
The furthest post on this hike ends at a bridge on the Poudre River. But the trail continues beyond that with a second loop. We did both loops in the open space, but if you'd only like to complete the passports, the second loop is optional. With both loops, the hike looks like a wobbly figure eight.
We started out going towards the right on the first loop which is definitely the easier side of the loop with a more gradual up and down.
We saw some coyote tracks along the way.
Jesse always points out the tracks, scats and plants, trees etc. This yellow flower is called Gumweed. If you touch it, it feels sticky.
A landscape view.
This is the bridge that you cross over the Poudre River. There are some logs in a shaded area you can sit on to rest and snack.
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| Poudre River |
And here is the post you'll find at the bridge.
This is a view of Eagle's Nest Rock. We heard an animal vocalizing and thought it sounded like an Eagle.
On the second loop it brings you up a hill and around back down again. This scene with the tree was one I liked.
The second loop has a section that had so many grasshoppers... they jumped around constantly back and forth in front of me as I hiked. It was quite a field of grass to walk through.
We're back at the bridge again already.
Here is where we get distracted. While munching on an amazing blueberry lemon bar from The Little Bird Cafe that we bought along with us, we spot a caterpillar making it's way towards us. Jesse moves it a little bit aways so as no one will step on it, but that was one determined caterpillar. It strove all the way back towards us and proceeded to climb up Jesse's boot. It then decided the boot wasn't what it wanted and tried to get itself onto the log we were sitting on by means of the surrounding grass.
The first few grasses failed it as they were either too short or not strong enough and the caterpillar flopped down. But it found a strong enough piece and crawled onto the log. After it decided it had explored the log enough it crawled back off, but not without falling completely off a tall grass onto the ground and rebounding as if nothing had happened. If only humans were that flexible to sustain a fall like that! It then meandered on and Jesse and I decided after probably a half hour of just watching a caterpillar crawl around that we should continue on with our hike. It was fascinating to watch this miniature life in nature and think it would've made an entertaining video.
The other side of the first loop that we returned on was quite hilly with some steep, short inclines (at least for me). It was how I remembered it the last time we were here, but I was able to handle it better this time with less stopping for catch my breath breaks.
Some horse riders we encountered at the bridge caught up to us here and we let them pass. It's a beautiful place to bring a horse.
Just before reaching the end of the trail, we come across the other post of a fish.
And we're almost back...
Trip stats:
In looking at the stats, remember all the time we watched a caterpillar!
Happy Trails!
