Newman > Bicycling > Bobcat Ridge
Bobcat Ridge is a City of Fort Collins natural area west of Fort Collins near Masonville. The city's web site for Bobcat Ridge provides a trail map and other information about the site. The area includes a number of trails, including the Valley Loop, the Powerline Road and the Ginny Trail, Below, I'll describe a ride on and provide a map for the Powerline Road and the Ginny Trail. This natural area opened to the public in 2007, and allows hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. The Ginny Trail is open to cyclists but closed to horseback riders, and the DR Trail is open to horseback riders and closed to cyclists. All trails at Bobcat Ridge are open to hikers. As a cyclist, one must ride safely and one should be ready to yield the trail to other trail users. This area was very popular the last time I was there, so it is vital that users share the trail responsibly. The ranger indicated to me that he had turned away 60 cars that day since the parking lot was full.
The trailhead is southwest of Masonville, and can be found by taking Harmony Road west from Fort Collins, continuing as it becomes County Road 38E. Continue past the Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain Park, and to the intersection of CR 38E and CR 27 in Masonville. Turn south on CR 27, and go about one mile to the dirt road on the right with a sign for Bobcat Ridge. Turn right and go up the dirt road about half a mile to the trailhead parking area. The trailhead itself is at the west end of the parking area. (A Google map from the corner of College and Harmony is available here.)
The Valley Loop trail is a 4-mile long rolling loop in the eastern part of the natural area that begins with a section that is wheelchair accessible. Its northern end climbs a little bit, but this trail is suitable for beginner mountain bikers. The Powerline Road is a steep and loose jeep road that climbs significantly from the Valley Loop trail to an area called Mahoney Park, where it intersects the DR trail and the Ginny Trail. Cyclists may only go up this road, and because it is steep and loose it requires good fitness and intermediate skill. The Ginny trail is a rough singletrack from the southern end of the Valley Loop to Mahoney Park. This trails is rocky in places and requires some technical skill. While it is steep, it it not as steep as the Powerline Road, and it does not climb continuously as the Powerline Road does. It is suitable for intermediate and expert mountain bikers, and may be ridden as an out-and-back if one doesn't want to ride the Powerline Road. The Eden Valley Spur is a rolling trail suitable for beginner mountain bikers that goes south from the Valley Loop to the southern boundary of the natural area.
A nice loop at Bobcat Ridge for fit intermediate level mountain bikers is to begin going north on the Valley Loop. The terrain here is rolling; there are a couple of switchbacks where the trail goes through a pair of small streambeds, but otherwise this section is quite easy. The Powerline Road intersects the Valley Loop at an unsigned intersection about 0.9 of a mile from the trailhead. Turn left there and climb to Mahoney Park. The climb begins moderately but soon becomes quite steep and loose. Many riders will need to walk part of this climb either because there isn't enough traction or because they don't have enough strength. At the top, the trail enters Mahoney Park, an area of flatter ground where you will see trees burned in the Bobcat Gulch fire in 2000. The road puts you onto a singletrack that ends at a T intersection with the DR Trail and the Ginny trail. This intersection is about 2.9 miles from the trailhead, at which point you have climbed about 1150 feet. Turn to the left (south) on the Ginny Trail, which is a singletrack that climbs another 450 feet in about 1.7 miles from Mahoney Park to a ridge south of Mahoney Park before descending 1500 feet in about 3.5 miles to the south end of the Valley Loop. Parts of the Ginny Trail are fairly technical and rocky. The Ginny Trail intersects the southern end of the Valley Loop, which one can follow back to the trailhead by turning right. This route totals about 8.5 miles, and is shown on the map and profile below. Optional additions could include doing the northern portion of the Valley Loop trail and/or doing an out-and-back on the Eden Valley Spur Trail.
Newman > Bicycling > Coyote Ridge
Last Modified: 24 November 2007
By: David Newman