Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

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djkest
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Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by djkest »

Anyone else do this trail?

Round Mountain aka Sheep Mountain is only 25 minutes from Loveland and is a nice training hike.
The trailhead is directly adjacent to Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsint ... tain+Trail+(%23969" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

It's 4.6 miles one way and gains about 2700' of elevation. It's not the most difficult hike, so you can do it for time! I've hiked it probably about 6 times, including once in January. Due to the low altitude (it starts at 5,700') you can do this hike year-round (although yes there can be snow on the trail).

Unfortunately the views are not that great, but you could realistically camp on the summit if you wanted to, and be protected from the wind. There's also a side-trip you can make near the summit to scramble up some cliffs and get a good view to the South/southeast.
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Johnson
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by Johnson »

Was up most of the trail yesterday. Veered off and tagged Stone Mt instead. Why do you ask?
In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. - Psalm 95:4

"I would be doing myself a disservice and every member of this band if I didn't perform the hell out of this." - Gene
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madbuck
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by madbuck »

Yes, great run. It's nice to have mile markers on the way up.
Pablo Vigil used to train there. Breaking an hour on the way up is great, IMHO, but we think the record is by Tim "Lucho" Waggoner just under 48 minutes.

Nick Clark from Ft. Collins invented the "Round Mountain Ladder", which is
1x1M
1x2M
1x3M
1x4M
1xSummit (~4.75M)

That tallies up to ~29M and 10K feet gain. Of course, doing a second lap up to the 1M mark makes it a nice 50k with 2M of gain. It's a neat workout because you have your car at the bottom for extra food/drink, and by the time you're destroyed after lap 4, sheer stubbornness will get you up headed back up to the summit if you have any sort of summit fever.

...
Or, of course, one can hike it!
DaveLanders
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by DaveLanders »

djkest wrote:
Unfortunately the views are not that great, but you could realistically camp on the summit if you wanted to, and be protected from the wind. There's also a side-trip you can make near the summit to scramble up some cliffs and get a good view to the South/southeast.
If you hike about 50 yards west of the summit cairn, you get a great panorama to the west (RMNP).
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IkeB
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by IkeB »

My training run.
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cougar
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by cougar »

Stone Mtn is a worthwhile side trip up there - better views in all directions, the cliffs mentioned are pretty nice too

for added training, you can grab a cinder block from the stack near the pipe near the base of the trail and run with that - I saw a girl running up there with one bouncing around in a rucksack a couple years ago. There's another guy who frequents the trail carrying a four foot steel pipe
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djkest
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Re: Round Mountain (Loveland, CO)

Post by djkest »

There was a guy I used to work with who did it at least two times a month all year. He was down to hiking it in 1:32 without ever running.

One time while coming up I swore I saw a mountain lion watching me from above, but when I got higher I never saw him again.
I've also seen people doing that hike with open carry sidearms. They used to have signs on the nature trail below warning about recent Mountain Lion sightings.
Johnson wrote: Why do you ask?
Anyway, I like the trail and was interested to see if anyone else did. Cool tips, I'll try a side trip from the summit next time.

Anyone ever camp on the summit?
Life is a mountain, not a beach.
Exploring and Wine, my personal blog
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