Day Hikes, Drop Camps, and Custom Services
Day Hikes
The Front Range of Northern Colorado offers much more than beautiful vistas of mountains and plains. Hundreds of native wildflowers, migrating birds and secretive animals fill the wild areas. Ancient geologic formations form the contours of the land, and legacies left by civilizations long gone still come alive. Come spend a day with us and discover the natural wonders of this magical area.
We offer private, one-day day hikes by experienced naturalists with gentle llamas to carry your gear. Pat and Joel Hayward, owners of LlamaWalk Colorado, have spent 15 years exploring the area in search of native flora and fauna. They've just teamed up with Buckhorn Llama Co., Inc. to offer guided llama nature hikes, a unique opportunity to discover the wonders of nature and the joys of llamas at the same time. Here are just two to choose from:
Masonville Hogbacks
Take a trip back in time across a section of the Front Range Lyons formation and enjoy a visually stunning glimpse into the process by which the Rocky Mountains were formed. The charming Masonville Valley lies to the west of Fort Collins and east of Rocky Mountain National Park, nestled between some of the most unique rock formations of the Colorado Front Range.
This gentle walk takes you through redstone ridges that seem to rise in waves above the valley floor. We'll encounter a surprising number of submontane community types, from mahogany shrubland to open Ponderosa pine forest to foothills riparian.
Diversity of plant life coupled with this distinctive geology and great opportunities for wildlife viewing make for a fun and informative hike. The area's close proximity to Ft. Collins, low elevation and easy trails also make it the perfect choice for small groups looking for a natural experience with light llama packing. Level: Easy
After the Burn - Crosier Mountain
Have you ever wondered what happens after a forest fire? Come explore Crosier Mountain with us and discover the metamorphosis of an ecosystem after five years of controlled burning.
This is a full day trek, which over the course of eight miles, will take us through an elevation gain of 2010 feet to the 9250-foot summit of Crosier Mountain, just east of Rocky Mountain National Park. This hike represents a rare opportunity to witness the effects of fire, both present and past, on a front-range montane ecosystem. The basic concepts of fire ecology and plant community succession will be explored as we move through communities of various stages. Our walk will focus on the natural history of the area and emphasize identification and discussion of the plants and animals we find through the various habitat types. Level: Moderate.
Drop Camps and Custom Services
We offer custom packing and support services for those persons needing assistance outside the realm of our leasing and guiding services. These include drop camps for those who don’t want to maintain or care for animals in the backcountry, transportation to and from trailheads, freighting for hauling loads out of the backcountry, route consultation, and trail maintenance and construction. We also rent stock racks for people who have their own truck, but no rack. We are not limited to this list and are happy to customize a service to meet your needs if feasible.