Things To Do in Fort Collins, CO During the Rafting Off-Season
by Ben Costello, March 2018
Summertime in Fort Collins, CO is an amazing time of year. It is the busiest time of year for visitation, outdoor activities, and recreation. Of course, it is the time of year to experience world-class rafting on the Cache La Poudre River with Mountain Whitewater. However, the area does have a multitude of things to do when you cannot go rafting. Spring, Fall, and Winter are a great time to visit or live in Fort Collins. More and more lately, I receive phone calls in our office asking about things to do during our rafting off-season. So, here is a list of ten things to do in Fort Collins when you cannot go rafting.
1. Find a Trail
Hiking trails (and snowshoeing in winter) are readily available around Fort Collins year round. Areas like Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Lory State Park, and the lower Poudre Canyon offer great hiking trails. Spring and Fall are the best times to find open trails, but it is not uncommon for many trails to remain snow free for most of the year.
Cameron Pass area offers many trailheads for snowshoeing and has snow most of the winter. Cameron pass is a reasonably short drive northwest of Fort Collins up Highway 14 through the Poudre Canyon. The area offers lots of great trails like Blue Lake, Zimmerman Lake, Montgomery Pass, Lake Agnes, Big South Trail and more. It is important to remember that these areas are not controlled for avalanches and can be dangerous. When traveling in the backcountry, be prepared. Get local knowledge or go with an experienced person. Always check local avalanche conditions and carry the proper avalanche safety equipment if you plan to travel in avalanche terrain.
For more information about easy access to hiking and snowshoeing near Fort Collins, contact Visit Fort Collins. For more information about the backcountry terrain around Cameron pass, contact Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol.
2. Enjoy Live Music
The music scene in Fort Collins has exploded over the past ten years. While summertime sees tons of outdoor music, music festivals and concerts at the famous Mishawaka Amphitheater, there are lots of opportunities for live music the rest of the year. The Lincoln Center is a City-owned theatre that hosts a wide variety of shows. Countless bars and pubs host live music throughout the City. The Aggie Theater, Hodi’s Half Note, and The Armory are all small to mid-sized theaters that host live shows all year. The newest theatre in Fort Collins, the remodeled Washington’s will be another gem. With all these locations, you can find live music in Fort Collins almost every night, but certainly every weekend.
FoCoMX, one of the best music festivals in Colorado, occurs in Fort Collins in April. This annual event boasts over 200 bands playing at over 20 venues in town over the course of a weekend. This festival showcases how truly special the music scene in Fort Collins really is. The Scene Magazine website is a great resource for music events in Fort Collins.
3. Drink Craft Beer
Fort Collins is famous for craft beer. It is known by most beer lovers as the craft beer capital of Colorado. Fort Collins brewers are some of the most well known in the country. With 24+ craft breweries in town, it will take more than one day to try them all. Many of the brewers are located in the Old Town area, including Odell Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing, the two largest in the city. Other breweries can be found in the Old Town area, but it is not the only place to find great beer. Horse & Dragon Brewing is tucked away in an industrial area in northeast Fort Collins. Guilded Goat Brewing Company is situated in mid-town Fort Collins and Zwei Brewing can be found in the southern part of the city.
Many locals like to create their own self-guided tours of the different craft beer manufacturers. They all have tasting rooms or brewpubs onsite. Ride your bike, take the Max, or use a ride service as it can be hard not to try everything. Visit Fort Collins produces a FREE tasting journal for you to keep track of all the amazing beers you sample. If a self-guided tour is not your speed, there are also professional guided tours available. Call the Magic Bus to reserve your tour that includes a ride, local information and history, water, and snacks.
4. Ride a Bike
According to the League of American Bicyclists, Fort Collins is one of only three Platinum rafted Bicycle Friendly Communities in the entire country. Riding bikes in Fort Collins is accessible, safe, and fun. Many roads in the City are bicycle friendly, and more are designed specifically to accommodate bike traffic each year. The Poudre Trial runs along the Poudre River through town and is a perfect location for a nice ride. There are several other trail systems in Fort Collins for cyclists to enjoy on both road bikes and mountain bikes. Bikes are a great way to get out, exercise, and enjoy all the things Fort Collins has to offer.
FC Bikes, a part of the local government devoted to safe cycling, organizes bike-related events throughout the year. These events include Bike to Work Days, Open Streets Events, and the new Big Jump Program.
If you do not own your own bike, Fort Collins has a couple of programs to help. The Fort Collins Bike Share program is an innovative form of public transportation through short-term bike use. There are 17 different stations around the city with more than 90 bikes available. Cost is only $2 per hour or you can purchase memberships. The Fort Collins Bike Library is a free service that allows registered residents and visitor to borrow bikes for longer periods of time, up to five days.
5. Catch a Movie
Fort Collins has lots of options for moviegoers for a mid-sized city. There are five different movie theaters in town, three show regular price, big label movies and one shows older movies at a discount price. One favorite is the Cinemark Movie Bistro that offers multiple screens featuring mainstream movies and large, comfy, reclining chairs. The Bistro servers your average movie snacks, but also has real food, ice cream, beer, and wine. Another favorite option is the unique Lyric Cinema. It is a part coffeehouse, part community hub, and part theatre. They offer great food, drinks, beer, bubble tea and show a lot of independent and local films.
Finally, Fort Collins is home to one of six remaining drive-in movie theaters in Colorado. The Holiday Twin Drive-in is open seasonally in the summertime, so you will have to go to a movie after your rafting trip to visit this gem. They have two big screens that show two movies each, every evening.
6. Grab a Bite
Fort Collins has one of the highest numbers of restaurants and eateries per capita in the country. You can find everything from fast-casual to fine dining. Although most every type of food is available, much of the food focus tends to be on fresh ingredients, local products, and quality environments. Old Town is one hub for dining in Fort Collins with hundreds of options within walking distance of each other. Other great areas of the city for great food include the Campus West area, mid-town, the Harmony corridor, and more. Visit Fort Collins has a great Food Guide to help navigate the food scene in Fort Collins.
Another foodie option in Fort Collins are the many unique, artisan specialty shops. Nuance Chocolates creates mouthwatering bean-to-bar chocolate. Rebel Popcorn makes more varieties of delicious home-made popcorn than you can count. The Welsh Rabbit has an amazing assortment of fine cheese and other charcuterie items from around the world. Go to Old Town Spice Shop if you’re looking for a wonderful array of spices or go to Ginger and Baker if you’re in the mood for pie.
7. Watch a Game
Fort Collins is home to the Colorado State University Rams. The beautiful campus sits in the heart of Fort Collins and is open for tours year round. Beyond being a top-end academic institution, the University is also a cornerstone of the Fort Collins community. CSU also has great athletics programs including football, basketball, volleyball, and many more.
The new crown jewel of the CSU campus is the on-campus stadium. It is a state-of-the-art multipurpose stadium and is the home of the Football team. Catching a game there is a must if you are in Fort Collins during college football season. Sports fans can also attend a volleyball or basketball game at Moby Arena.
8. Play Golf
Believe it or not, you can play golf in Fort Collins all year. As long as there is no snow on the ground, the City courses are open. The off-season is great for golf because the courses tend to be less busy and the price is cheaper.
There are four municipal golf courses in Fort Collins, two 18-hole, and two 9-hole courses. The courses are well-kept and feature old growth cottonwood trees, narrow fairways, and some fun hole layouts. There is also a multitude of other municipal courses within an hour in neighboring towns as well.
Fort Collins is also home to several private courses including the Fort Collins Country Club and Ptarmigan Country Club. Unfortunately, this author has not been lucky enough to play any of them…yet.
9. Go Shopping
Fort Collins is not a well-known shopping destination, yet it has a surprising amount of unique and fun stores. Old Town is home to a large variety of retailers. Clothing boutiques, home goods, souvenirs, antiques, artisan foods are all widely available. Shoppers are able to park their vehicle and walk around the square and surrounding area to the many shops.
If you are looking for more brand name stores, Fort Collins has those as well. The newly rebuilt Foothills Mall is located in mid-town Fort Collins. The mall is home to many high-end retailers and brand name stores. The mall’s beautiful expanse is also a great place to find a great restaurant or find something to do with the kids. They have a skating rink in the winter time, a movie theater and more. The southern end of the city, along Harmony Road, offers an array of fine retail locations at the Front Range Village. This 100-acre property is home to big-name retailers and other local hotspots.
10. Explore Art & Museums
If you would like to spend a day doing something entertaining and educational, Fort Collins has several museums and lots of art galleries to offer. The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery is a family-friendly, hands-on, science and history museum. The museum regularly features interactive exhibits that encourage learning, reflection, and fun. There are exhibits specifically designed for kids to interact, exhibits that feature the natural history of our area, and much more. The museum also features the OtterBox Digital Dome Theatre, a 35-foot diameter dome screen. The dome is both a planetarium and a theatre offering daily events.
The Fort Collins Museum of Art is another great place to visit. The museum’s mission is to spread the power of visual art. They host multiple visual art exhibits and events throughout the year. Other interesting museums and art galleries in Fort Collins include Bee Family Centennial Farm Museum, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising, the Global Village Museum of Arts and Culture and more.
Rafting the Colorado River: An Employee Trip
Mountain Whitewater employees celebrate another great season by participating in a multi-day trip rafting the Colorado River.
By Ben Costello, November 2015
It was another great rafting season on the Cache La Poudre River for Mountain Whitewater, one of the best ever in fact. There were great water levels throughout the season and entertaining music at the Paddler’s Pub. A fantastic crew of employees and all our wonderful guests contributed to making 2015 a rafting season to remember. The staff at Mountain Whitewater worked hard all season to ensure a great experience for everyone involved. After all of that hard work, it was time for a group of employees to celebrate the season by going on a multi-day rafting vacation.
In mid October, with permits secured, food packed and rafting and camping equipment secured in trucks, our group of twelve guides headed to Western Colorado for a trip rafting the Colorado River. The plan for the devoted band of river rats was to launch just west of Frutia, Colorado and head down river to spend five days running the Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater Canyons of the Colorado River.
Those who have never experienced an over-night rafting trip often assume the trips are strenuous and rough. Traveling with minimal gear while eating freeze dried food, like backpackers. That is not the case for most rafting trips. Rafts can accommodate lots of gear, a full kitchen, large, comfortable sleeping pads, camp chairs, fire pans, plenty of beer and lots of other creature comforts. Our trip rafting the Colorado River included meals like lasagna, eggs and bacon, steak shish-ka-bobs with artichoke dip, Reuben sandwiches, chicken fajitas and pineapple upside-down cake. Camps were comfortable, even luxurious by camping standards.
The first part of the journey traveled through the Ruby and Horsethief canyons. This particular stretch of the river contains mostly placid, class I and II water and beautiful desert landscape. Huge red rock walls, calm green water and aromatic desert shrubs are experienced along the way. Birds of prey ride the drafts off the canyon walls while fish jump, leaving ripples on the water surface. It’s a perfect setting for a relaxing row by the oarsmen (and women) captaining the seven rafts on the trip. Two of the guides paddled stand up paddleboards while others simply rode on the bow of a raft. Regardless of the mode of travel, each member of the group enjoyed being out in the desert away from the hustle and bustle of real life. Spending time on a desert river allows for the unmistakable feeling of freedom without worry. No electronic devices, no bills to pay, just the great outdoors with great friends.
The group spent the first couple days of our adventure on this part of the river. Popular activities included playing in the water, relaxing by the fire and playing Bocce Ball or Washers. On our layover day, most of the group hiked up Mee Canyon. I stayed back to wait for a couple of our other guides friends who would be meeting us at camp that day. It was nice to spend time soaking in the view. I watched river otters play and waved at other groups of rafters heading down river. We left camp the next day and spent time jumping off the rocks in the Blackrock area before moving on to the Westwater Canyon section of the Colorado River for some exhilarating class III and IV whitewater.
Westwater Canyon is one of the most popular overnight river trips in the Western Colorado/Eastern Utah area. It is the only place, other than the Grand Canyon where a whitewater traveler can see Precambrian rocks like Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite. These rocks and the large, steep canyon walls give it a feel very similar the Grand Canyon. The short, but action packed section of whitewater within the Westwater Canyon area provide for a very wet and wild experience for river runners.
Rafting the Colorado River in Westwater Canyon did not disappoint for our employee trip. We saw mostly warm sunny weather, with just a little rain while running the rapids when you are wet anyway. Most all of the rapids were run successfully by the seasoned guides, smashing through large waves while smiling with joy. One raft, a smaller mini-me did flip in one of the larger rapids called Skull. The raft hit the main, large hydraulic in the rapid and was flipped instantly. But that was not unexpected because rowing a raft as small as the mini-me makes for a wild ride. All went well as the raft was easily righted once it was pulled into an eddy after the rapid. For our group, there is nothing more satisfying than traveling together on a river and running big rapids.
The trip ended with one final night at camp with rowdy campfire discussions about the day of running whitewater. Final rounds of washers and bocce ball were played to determine trip champions and the group enjoyed one last gourmet camp meal. It was another memorable addition to the river logs of the veteran guides and an unforgettable first multi-day experience for a few others. The trip fortified the already tight bond between coworkers. Can’t wait to do it again. A multi-day adventure rafting the Colorado River, or any other river for that matter, is an unbeatable experience. And for our group, it was a perfect way to unwind and celebrate another season doing what we love: guiding rafts on the Cache La Poudre River.
photos by Melissa Matsunaka
“the joy of life comes from our encountrers with new experiences…”
“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.
The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
-Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
No Fun in Life without Adventure
“What constitute the pleasures of the traveler are obstacles, fatigue or even danger. What charm can there be in a journey when one is always sure to arrive and find his horses ready, a downy bed, an excellent supper and all the comfort one enjoys at home? one of the great misfortunes of modern life is the absence of the unexpected, the lack of adventure. Everything is so well regulated, so well fitted into its place and ticketed, that chance is no longer possible; another century of improvements, and everybody will be able to foresee from the very day of his birth all that will happen to him up to the day of his death.”
– Monsieur Theophile Gautier, 1840
U.S. Navy Battleship vs. Modesitt Canoe
As we pass a Navy ship I look up in awe at its size and power. I would hate to come up against this thing in a fight. But then again, i would doubt that they could see Kerala, our canoe, from there anyway. Near the end of the boat I see two sailors waving at us. I wave back. Then they stand at full attention and salut us. Us! Their actions blow me away. We are just out here doing some canoeing and they were out there protecting my freedom and they were saluting us. It brings home to me that although this isn’t a unique trip-it is different. They make me feel special and different and honored. This has been a worthwhile trip. Respect can come in many forms and today it was the simple salute from two sailors. The feeling is wonderful.
As Kent and I near New Orleans the river traffic increases with more barges, more freighters; It is difficult for a little canoe to maneuver around freighters- and scary.
Journey Around the World
Excerpt from Taking the Old Highway By Brad Modesitt.
“This planet has- or rather had- a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”- Douglas Adams in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Lesson Learned: A two-foot drop is big enough.
Ernie Fund Spurs Cross Country Cycle Trip
Bicycle Touring from Wyoming to Washington
by Laura Loretz
With the help of this travel grant provided by Mountain Whitewater, a pro-deal purchase for some amazing panniers from Pacific Outdoor Equipment and of course the support of my mom and dad I took off! Although I was going to make the trip happen no matter the circumstances, the ease of this trip would not have been possible without the Ernie Fund and the support given to me by MWD!!
This past fall, a friend and I took off on our first ever bicycle tour. Bicycle travel is human-propelled and therefore sustainable by nature. This along with my need to keep this trip as low-cost as possible fit perfectly with what the Ernie Fund stands for. (Traveling cheaply and with the environment). I applied for the Ernie Fund, and proudly became the 2010 recipient.
My friend Toby and I began in Lander, WY with little expectations, only a simple goal of reaching the coast of Washington in the 30 days we had to complete the journey. What we learned was there was no way to plan for what was about to take place. 1,400 miles, 29 days , and 4 states later we finished with new friends, amazing memories, and a feeling of satisfaction and pride I never expected.
Reaching the Puget Sound in Anacortes, WA I realized that the memories were endless;
From the scary (a bear growling around our campsite in the dark or being face to face with buffalo in Yellowstone NP) to the impossible (climbing up 5,000 ft in elevation for 25 plus miles) to the beautiful (the moss-drapped trees of Washington, The Grand Tetons peering at us from a campsite) to the unexpected (locals bringing pizza and beer to our campsite, the constant addition and subtraction of total strangers to our ride) The people we met will not soon be forgotten, nor the support of friends and family. And the miles, well, let’s just say I am certain that they will keep on going… because for me this is not the end of an adventure, but the start of many more!
Things that I learned while cycle touring:
- People think that riding your bike across the country is impossible
- It is not impossible
- Warm beer is infinitely colder than no beer at all
- We are not “bikers”, but rather cyclists
- At the end of the day you forget the pain, can’t put your finger on any frustrations and still feel as though your are having the time of your life
- Tourists in Yellowstone seem more attracted to cycle tourists than the wildlife around them
- Washington state is a temperate rain forest
- People are good
- The best cure for a bad day, a good day, a rainy day, a hilly day or a flat day is a good beer and a Snickers bar
- Even when you think you cannot pedal for one more mile, you usually find that you have to pedal 15 more miles… and you can
- Our country varies so much, the people, the towns, the landscapes… nothing is the same and that is consistent
- Laughing with strangers is under appreciated
- Small miracles happen everyday
- We are just a small part of the earth, but can touch lives and do our part to spread goodness in ways that can multiply
- A bar in a small town is the best way to get the truth out of a town
- Other than the bar, don’t believe the locals; they will tell you it’s “all downhill” and the weather forecast is “perfect for the next 10 days”
- The best way to find yourself is to be lost on an adventure, immersed in chance and embracing the others that come into your life… you can only know yourself when you are at your lowest and watch how you react to getting yourself up again
- Don’t plan on planning, let each day bring with it new adventure… planning gets in the way of the freedom to let life and adventure unravel …These are the best moments!
