New & Prospective Member Hike – Red Mountain Open Space

The exact meeting time and place will be emailed to participants a few days before the trip, but expect to meet about 8:00am in North Fort Collins for our ~45 minute drive to the trailhead.

This will be an orientation hike for new and prospective members. Instruction will include 10 essentials, leave no trace principles, hiking pace, risk management, and an overview of the CMC.  This will be a loop hike with an additional out and back to the high point (BM AS-P41 at 7,149 feet). Starting from the Red Mountain trailhead we will follow the Sinking Sun Trail to the junction with the Big Hole Wash Trail. From there we'll follow the Big Hole Wash trail for about 1.3 miles until we reach the junction with the Cheyenne Trail. We will follow the Cheyenne trail east for another 0.8 miles. There will be a sigh to the BM AS-P41 point that is off trail for about 5 minutes to the summit. There are good views into Red Mountain Open Space, Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Wyoming. We will come back down the Cheyenne trail and the Big Hole Wash until we meet up with the Ruby Wash trail. We will follow the Ruby Wash trail until the intersection with the Bent Rock trail which we will take that will complete the trip back to the trailhead. Overall ~8 miles and ~900 ft elevation gain.