Big South Trail

The Big South Trail is a long trail that runs along the Cache La Poudre River from CO14 into Rocky Mountain National Park. On this trip we only went about 2 miles up since we had our little westie with us. More info on the trail can be found from the forest service here.

Trail stats
Round trip dist = 4.12 mi
Total elevation gain = 1940 ft
Hiking Time = 2 hours
Trail type = Singletrack
Difficulty = Medium
Start Coordinates: 40.634229 N, -105.806952 W

Directions
Drive north from Fort Collins on US287 until you reach the intersection with CO14 (Poudre Canyon Highway), also known as Ted's Place. From Ted's place drive west on CO14 for 48.2 mi to the trailhead parking area which will be on your left.

Description

The trailhead/parking lot is located where the Poudre River joins up with CO14. The singletrack follows alongside the river with great views of the river and the canyon. At about 2 miles up the trail traverses a skree field (see below). This was a good turn around point since we were hiking with our small dog. If you are planning on continuing on the trail it crosses the river at 6.75 mi up. This may be very dangerous depending on the time of the year.

View from the parking lot

Our westie taking a break

On the trail

The trail at our turn-around point