hikers have been climbing this scenic mountain for many years. The first Greyrock trail was constructed in the 1910s under the direction of a visionary forest ranger. The one in use today, Greyrock Trail (FS 946), was mostly built in the 1930s, by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This popular New Deal program employed young, unmarried men in projects to improve the nation’s forest and recreation resources. Enrollees worked six-month stints for up to two years in return for food, clothing, shelter, and $30 a month (about $550 these days). The catch was that most of these young men’s earnings had to be sent home to their parents.
Greyrock Mountain
Soon after you cross the footbridge over the Cache la Poudre River, the highway sounds fade away. After hiking 0.7 miles through a gully, you’ll turn right at a junction where two valleys meet. Ascend the right-hand valley, much of which was burned in the 2012 High Park fire. The burned area is obvious but not oppressive; some trees survived and there are many other signs of life. In spring you’ll find white-violet harebells, blue lanceleaf chiming bells, and purple pasqueflowers. Watch out for poison ivy along the stream banks; this post-fire invader has three shiny green leaflets which turn red in fall.
Eventually the trail curves right into a side gully, then crisscrosses as it climbs. Soon views of the Poudre Valley open up to the south. As you wrap around a shoulder, Greyrock Mountain juts into the air ahead of you: a seemingly inaccessible molten mound. It’s hard to believe a hikers’ trail goes to the top of it.
Greyrock is a visible extrusion of the Log Cabin Batholith, an emplacement of magma that rose through fractures in overlying gneiss and schist about 1.4 billion years ago. Though undeniably gray, it is classified as Silver Plume granite, which is a slightly pink igneous rock found all over this region of the Rockies.
At 2.3 miles you’ll arrive below Greyrock’s face, at a junction in a meadow with a park bench. Turn right and traverse steeply, close to the imposing wall. The route markers here can be confusing; wooden posts and metal plates are more reliable than stacked-rock cairns. After climbing right, the route curves left to reach a surprising stretch of sand flats and trees. Continue through them and over some rocks, past a picturesque pothole pool, to the obvious summit.
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers install a sign on Greyrock Mountain
From the top, the extent of the 2012 wildfire looks extraordinary. In fact, what you see is only part of the damage, which was caused by two adjacent blazes that burned a month apart. The main fire ignited when lightning struck a tree across the valley. Response was rapid, coordinated, and diligent, but more than 87,000 acres burned over several weeks, making it the second-largest wildfire, by area, in Colorado’s recorded history.
Descending from the summit of Greyrock Mountain
When you return to the junction below the face, you have a choice: descend by the same route, or extend the hike 1.5 miles by making a loop through the beautiful meadow to the west along the 2.7-mile Greyrock Meadow Trail (FS 947). The latter choice is a nice walk, but a tidy amount of exercise since all the elevation lost to reach the meadow is regained—and then some—to get over a ridge before descending a grassy hillside on rocky switchbacks.
Back at the Poudre River, look for a bench on the bank before the bridge. It’s an excellent spot to sit and enjoy the flowing water for a spell before getting in the car.
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269B, then CO 14 west and US 287 north through Fort Collins. Turn left to continue on CO 14 (Poudre Canyon Road) and proceed 8.5 miles to the Greyrock parking lot, on the left. The trail begins on the other side of the road; be careful crossing it. Additional parking is available along the highway. 1 hour, 40 mins.
7 Mount Margaret
This might be the gentlest trail you’ll ever take to climb a mountain. As you wind through tranquil meadows and aspen groves to a low summit east of Red Feather Lakes, you might remember the familiar song of a celebrated “Indian princess.”
At a Glance
| Difficulty | Distance/Time | 8 miles/3 hours | |
| Trail Conditions | Trailhead ElevationTotal Hiking Gain | 8,100 feetnegligible | |
| Children | Features | Forest, meadows, aspens, rock formations | |
| Scenery | Best Season | Spring and fall | |
| Photo | Other Users | Bikes, horses, dogs | |
| Solitude | Notes | No toilets at trailhead | |
| Property | Roosevelt National Forest | Jurisdiction | U.S. Forest Service |
The rocky hilltop at the end of Mount Margaret Trail (FS 167) is actually 150 feet lower than the trailhead, so technically you will “descend to the summit”—a funny idea—but the pleasant, easy trail offers a fun scramble to the top and some nice views in the Red Feather Lakes region.
The trail begins in rolling ponderosa forest where the trees are spaced enough apart to reveal some of the curious rock formations that exist along much of this walk. Aspens soon join the mix and remain profuse, making this trail a brilliant choice in fall. Birdsong is also plentiful along these old logging roads, and you may hear woodpeckers drumming.
At 0.8 miles, you’ll reach a willow bottom and cross a stream. Three photogenic rock mounds rise behind you. A half mile later, you’ll pass through a gated fence; the fence is used to control the cattle that graze here in summer on public land permits. A trail branches left to Dowdy Lake, a short trip worth a jaunt on the return journey. The lake is one of a chain of reservoirs built more than a century ago that were called the Mitchell Lakes—until Princess Redfeather came along, that is.
Horse and rider on Mount Margaret Trail
Fall foliage along Mount Margaret Trail
Tsianina (“Cha-nee-nah”) Redfeather was a renowned Native American mezzo-soprano and musician. Born on a reservation in Oklahoma, she received sponsorship and moved to Denver at a young age to study music. There she met composer Charles Wakefield Cadman. Cadman’s famous piece “From the Land of the Sky-blue Water” became her signature song—and later the jingle for Hamm’s beer. “Princess Redfeather” became a Denver-based celebrity, and when some developers were looking for a new name for the Mitchell Lakes, where they wanted to build a resort in the 1920s, they appropriated her Indian motif and her putative ancestor, a Cherokee leader named Redfeather. According to legend, Chief Redfeather died in a battle against the Pawnees
