Byways: Cache la Poudre/North Park

We've traveled parts of the Cache la Poudre/North Park Scenic Byway a few times over the years that we've lived in Colorado, and every time, we've found something new to enjoy. This byway is located along Colorado 14 between Fort Collins and Walden. If you're driving west

Bench overlooking the Cache la Poudre River at one of the campgrounds along the byway

from Fort Collins, the highway travels upstream along the Cache la Poudre River (meaning, Hide the Powder) to a point just north of Chambers Lake. The river (locally called the Poudre River) flows northward from its source near Milner Pass in Rocky Mountain National Park, passing mountains with names like Specimen Mountain, Flatiron Mountain, and Comanche

Trees growing on river boulders

Peak, then turns eastward where it meets up with Highway 14. From this point westbound, the highway begins to follow Joe Wright Creek as it turns southward toward Gould, then curves northward again in a large "U" to Walden, the western terminus of the byway.

Walden is located in nearly the center of the area called North Park, a basin surrounded by the Medicine Bow Mountains, the Never Summer Mountains, and the Rabbit Ears and Park Ranges, and opening to Wyoming at the north. This basin (or mountain park), along with Middle Park and South Park, were historically important

Rafters on a calm stretch of the Poudre River

to the native American tribes due to the enormous populations of bison that once ranged here. Today, North Park is also home to large populations of moose, deer, pronghorn, as well as smaller mammals that were traditionally hunted for their meat, hides, and other resources.

The Cache la Poudre River, like many rivers in Colorado, starts at a high elevation and drops rapidly. Between the source waters and the mouth of the river is a descent of more than a mile -- 6,155 feet! This steep fall-off means the water flows fast, and during high-water cycles

Poudre Falls in summer

the narrow canyon walls can constrict the flow into rapids that thrill rafters and kayakers.

For those who prefer to view fast water without getting wet, Poudre Falls is right next to Highway 14. The waterfall isn't particularly high; it drops about 40 feet in three cascades. However, the narrow defile it's constrained within provides plenty of drama and noise, even during the low-water season. In the photo on the left, you can easily spot the first and second cascades. The third one takes a sideways plunge, dropping eight to ten feet through a narrow fissure in the rock. In the picture, you can tell where the crevice is because that's where the river vanishes. The water's sideways flow is caused by a narrow shelf of rock with a sheer drop-off into the hole; the river pushes the

Third cascade of the Poudre River where the water drops into a deep and very narrow crevice

water onto that shelf, where it falls off the side. This hole and the power of the water displaces so much air that the plants growing on the bank are virtually in a wind tunnel 24/7. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate information about how much water is estimated to flow through this narrow space per second, but it has to be impressive.

Vintage fridge with rotating shelves

Aside from rafting and kayaking, there are other fun activities to enjoy along this byway like canoeing, hiking, backpacking, hunting, and camping; plus it brings fishermen from around the world to try their hand at hooking rainbow, brown, or brook trout. We've found several campgrounds that offer great options for overnighting.

Personally, my favorite trip was several years ago when my husband set up a stay at an old cabin in the tiny community of Gould for our anniversary. He was afraid I might be disappointed once we got there and could really check out the cabin because it was so old

Interior of the cabin we where stayed

and needing repairs. He needn't have worried!! I'm probably the more adventurous of us (a particular trip to Alaska and the Northwest Territories with a 1940's motel and badly sagging beds comes to mind).

Two of my favorite things about the cabin were the vintage refrigerator with a pink(!) interior and two rotating shelves, and the gorgeous wild rose bushes along the exterior. Regarding the refrigerator, I was able to find a slightly bigger one online that was dated 1954, so just imagine it still working after more than

Cabin door hinge

60 years. The door hinges were amazing with their stamped decorations. But a couple of details that required a more intrepid outlook were "character-building" features like the gaps in the wall caulking -- which was fine in summer, but made us both wonder about the fall when hunters would be staying there -- and the roof, which seemed to have its own unique interpretation of "keeping the weather out." We drove past the cabin this summer and it appears the roof has been replaced, so we hoped the caulking might have been fixed too.

Wild rose just outside the cabin

This summer's trip reminded us of something we totally forgot about from two earlier trips along this byway -- the stunning Nokhu Crags, standing at 12,485 feet in the Never Summer Mountains. This time, the sun was shining; during our earlier trips, the area was shrouded in clouds and rain, so the peaks were hidden or pretty nondescript. We both remarked on how we couldn't believe we'd forgotten such an impressive sight and now share a strong desire to spend more time exploring the nearby back roads around the Crags.

For background, the Never Summers are a diminutive mountain range of only 25 square miles, and extend a mere 10 miles from north to south. Wikipedia calls them "small and tall" because in that tiny space are more than 10 named peaks of 12,000 feet elevation or higher.

Nokhu Crags along the Cache la Poudre/North Park Scenic Byway

In 2020, the Cameron Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in Colorado history, swept through this region. The burn scar is visible along Colorado Highway 14 for more than 30 miles between Rustic and Chambers Lake. However, the fire's perimeter continued much farther south and

Friendly moose sculpture

east, nearly reaching Fort Collins and Loveland. The photograph above illustrates that thousands of acres of dead and dying evergreens remain in the forest, highlighting the ongoing risk of future large wildfires.

As you approach Walden, North Park expands into a broad valley where the Michigan, Illinois, and Canadian Rivers wind through the landscape. Historically, North Park served as a gathering place for Native American tribes, hunters, and trappers to hunt and prepare for winter. Known as the "moose viewing capital of Colorado," it features the Moose Visitor Center near Gould. There's a life-size moose sculpture made out of barbed wire at the entrance, welcoming you and representing the area's healthy moose population. The last time we visited, the wildlife spotting journal just inside the front door showed that more than a dozen moose had been observed over just the previous three days.

The small town of Walden is the western terminus of the Cache la Poudre/North Park Scenic Byway, but it's not a dead-end for recreationists. Just a few miles away is the North Sand Hills OHV Recreation Area, the only sand off-highway vehicle area in Colorado. We haven't visited there yet, but it will be on the list for the next trip along the byway. Hope you enjoyed this brief visit!

My photographs for this post are documentary, so please visit the rest of my website at www.denisedethlefsen.com and www.photoartbydenise.com for art photography to suit your home or office. Thank you so much for reading, following and commenting!