Hike the Powerline Trail in the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area
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About this place
Awesome views of the Front Range and the Bobcat Ridge Valley, including the Devil's Backbone and Horsetooth rock, with some killer elevation gain to test your legs and endurance.
Powerline Trail is a 1.9 mile spur off the Valley Loop Trail in the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area that climbs 1,100 feet from the valley floor to Mahoney Park.
To get to the start of the trail, take the Valley Loop Trail .9 miles in the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area from the main entrance of the Natural Area, just off W County Road 32 C near Masonville, west of Fort Collins and the Horsetooth Reservoir.
To get to the entrance take West County Road 38 E west from Fort Collins over and around Horsetooth Reservoir until you get to the Masonville and the main intersection. Then go left onto Buckhorn Road and follow the signs for Bobcat Ridge.
At the top of Powerline Trail is Mahoney Park, a desolate sub-alpine meadow of glacial erratics that was devastated by the Bobcat Gulch Fire. The trail then intersects with the Ginny Trail heading South and the East back to the Valley Loop Trail, or the D.R. Trail heading North and the East back to the Valley Loop Trail. Both are roughly the same distance back to the park entrance.