Over the past four three years we have been going to the Poudre Canyon calling it our yearly fly fishing trip. The amount of brown, cutthroat, and rainbow trout in the gold medal stream amazed us. We would spend the entire day with the golden’s fishing. It was a dream river for us. Unfortunately the High Park fire had a devastating effect on the river fire killing many fish and making the water inhabitable. No fish were to be seen in areas of the river that held dozens of fish the year before. The amount of ash that has coated the river bed most likely killed the main food supply for the fish (bugs!)

Mountain Park Campground is 24 miles up the canyon. If you travel past MPC you will be able to leave the fire damage behind.

Since fishing was a bust for us, we decided to hike around and explore the area. We ventured North to Red Feather Lakes and found some nice campgrounds around Dowdy Lake and West Lake. The rock formations around Dowdy Lake are very beautiful. There are nice hiking opportunities off of CR68C (Elkhorn Creek Trail).

Campsite, Mountain Park Campground.

Burned hillside next to our campground.

Fly fishing, Poudre River.

Dowdy Lake, Read Feathers Lakes.

West Lake, Read Feathers Lakes.

Fly fishing, Poudre River.

Hiking around Poudre Canyon.

Fly fishing, Poudre River.

While we were at Mountain Park Campground the forest service had a plant a tree volunteer day (National Public Lands Day). We also had the opportunity to core a large pine tree—it was really cool!