Eagles Nest Open Space, CO April 19, 2008

Posted July 27, 2008

Been a long winter, so yesterday (Saturday) Will and I headed up to Livermore and the Eagles Nest Open Space trail. Very nice day (we had breakfast at the Silver Grill on the way out of town, yummy : ) and it was good just to get out with a pack on the back and hike (easy trails : )

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Lumpy Ridge Loop trail. All links open a new browser window.

Will did most of the hike without his shirt on and only got a little burned.

And, yes, actually there were a few wildflowers showing. Mostly the pasques (sp?). I’ve seen these poking up through the snow before, but no snow today.

Hmmmm. Lets zoom in on those a little. There was a bee working one of the flowers but I did not act fast enough to capture it in a photo.

As can be seen, little early for any leaves on the trees (spring seems a little late this year). That grove of cottonwoods behind Will cannot be visited this time of year due to golden eagle nesting’s. Did not see any eagles, but nice to now they are around.

That’s private land down there, or I’d go check it out.

South Fork of the Poudre (I think).

Zoom in a little. Was a fair amount of water in the creek. But, I don’t think it’s at “runoff” level yet.

Will waiting on me : )

Zoom in on the trees and clouds.

Headed back towards the end of the loop (around 5 miles total). we saw some people on horseback.

Hard to see? Here, I’ll zoom in a little.

Other than this group of people, we only saw 2 other people on the trail. Overall, very nice hike. Close to town. And a good beginning of another season of hiking. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayy : )

- Geoff Weatherford