It came time this week for the Mountain’s Edge People, my beloved Meetup hiking group, to challenge our local landmark: the Horsetooth Rock Hike. Five miles out and back, with a rise of about 1,400, this is the Fort Collins hike. The one everyone knows. The one all the college students must do once. Though I had never been to the top of the rock before. I’m scared of heights.
Horsetooth Rock Height:
The top of Horsetooth is 7256 feet above sea level, a little more than 2000 feet above the city of Fort Collins. The crest of the rock is visible from most spots in the city. It got the name “Horsetooth” because it resembles the straight row of a horse’s squared-off teeth, with a gap just so. You, modern reader, probably wouldn’t think of that when you saw it. But in the 1860’s, when this town was settled by white people, (before this the land was home to the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute) everyone knew what a horse’s mouth looked like. Horses being ubiquitous. Thus the name. A brief history of local research into the question of the name of Horsetooth Rock is here.
As a long-time horsewoman, I will agree that the rock looks like a horse’s teeth.
Horsetooth Rock Hours
The trail is open from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m., and hikers are often seen walking up the trail into the dusk. Perhaps they plan to sit on the rock and see the night sky and the city below. While not a dark sky park, the hills surrounding Fort Collins are a good place to see stars. I asked my son Andrew and he told me that climbing up to watch the sunrise from the rock is also popular. Thus the 4 a.m. opening of the parking lot.
Horsetooth Rock Parking
The parking costs $10 a day. Locals (residents of Larimer County) can buy a pass for $100 a year. (If you’re from Denver, or otherwise outside the county, it’s $130.) It is possible if you come out on a weekend during good weather, that the parking lot would be full. If this happens, you might try to Soderburg Trailhead, back down 38E toward the lake and take a left at Shoreline Drive at the bottom of the hill.Tthe trailhead will be on the left. You can still read Horsetooth Rock from this trailhead, but it’s farther.
The Hike Itself
We set off from the parking lot, going at a decent speed basically straight for the summit. There are several ways of reaching Horsetooth Rock and our hiking group organizer Gary clearly decided that since we were leaving at 5 p.m. we didn’t have any time to lose, we would take the shortest, direct route. I started walking with a man I’d met some time ago, who I was very interested to see. He makes me nervous though, my usual spunky dialogue can be hard to come up with. Anyway, Interesting Guy and I climbed the hill. Falling toward the back of the pack.
At The Back of the Pack
What is this, I wondered? Am I going to be the weakest link in the chain again? This was not the plan. Where are all those slow hikers that usually come on the Mountains Edge hikes? Usually, I’m in the middle of the group. It occurred to me that maybe those slower hikers were not turning out for Horsetooth. Cause it’s a little bit formidable. It’s rated an intermediate hike. Conversation with Interesting Guy was going … pretty well. We climbed all the way to the top of hill and there it was, the rock itself. Everyone was going up! I can climb a rock with the best of them — yoga flexibility helps a lot. But there were cliffs.
Facing Your Real (Potential) Death
There were jokes about death. “What happens if you fall off,” some wag wanted to know.
“You die,” another person answered. When I looked, I discovered there had been a rescue of a girl in 2014 who slid down the side and suffered a open fracture of her ankle. Rescue teams came up and carried her down in a sling. Another hiker did die from a fall in Horsetooth Mountain Park in 2022, though it’s not clear from the news reports whether the fall was from the top of the rock.
I hadn’t read those reports before the hike though, so they didn’t have the opportunity to dissuade me. There was nothing for it, I had to climb up.
If I die, I die, I thought. Putting my hand on the boulders and trying to stay near the middle of the rock. Up on top, the flat area is about 20 feet wide, but it’s somewhat uneven. I kept my eyes on my feet and hands at all times. Until I got to the middle of the top of the rock and sat down. Then I looked.
Sitting up there with Interesting Guy was pretty cool. I looked down, and saw a pickup truck a tiny speck, driving down a dirt road in the valley behind the rock, kicking up dust in the late afternoon sun. On the other side, there was the reservoir and Fort Collins laid out in a green grid. I didn’t get a very good look at that, however, if would have meant shifting my seat and I was being careful not to move.
Interesting Guy took my picture. I look happy.
On the way down, I felt I should back off from monopolizing Interesting Guy’s attention, since I was not talking to anyone else and I felt like I was possibly making a scene, Gary and the others might be laughing at me, ‘look at that, she’s really interested in him… ‘ so I moved down the trail a little bit and another lady came up and started talking to him.
I Feel Threatened Here … But Why?
Long sigh. “I am too mature to get mad about this,” I told myself. “She may not be a threat.” I gave her a threat assessment. It seemed to me she probably wasn’t but you can’t be sure, there’s no accounting for tastes.
I imagined going back, pulling her behind a tree, and slapping her around a bit, telling “now stay away from him” and walking off. No, of course, I would never *do* such a thing. But I would think about it.
Am I a Bad Person?
What can I say? I can be territorial. I know it’s not okay, but I still think of these things. Comforting myself that I am almost certainly not the only person who has thoughts of doing bad things, I turned my thoughts to something else. They returned, but only three or four times.
After the hike we all went out to dinner at JJ’s Wood Fired Pizza, at the corner of Taft and Harmony, near where the road from Horsetooth Rock leads back into Fort Collins. You might think, from looking at this place from the street, that J.J.’s a hole in the wall pizza place, but it’s absolutely legit, and has authentic recipes like Nonni’s meatballs appetizer and Adamo’s pizza with riccotta and pepperoni which was quite tasty and a legit looking Caesar salad in a go container. I talked a little more to Interesting Guy and hugged him when we all left. That other lady was still hanging around him. But I went home.
I thought “the world is full of women and if you find an Interesting Guy you know other women are going to be noticing him too. If he doesn’t like you, well, you’re S.O.L. Start over. “
That Wasn’t a Completely Satisfying Reflection
But it was realistic. Anyway, hope springs eternal, as they say. Horsetooth Rock hike was a great trip. The ponderosa forests, the granite outcroppings, the thrill of reaching the top, all first rate. And the social interactions, largely positive.
Apparently, the Horsetooth Hike was more of a jumping off place for me than I anticipated, and not in the way you’d expect.
And more will be revealed.