Melodie S. Edwards - Hikes Around Fort Collins: A Trail Guide to Urban Hikes, Poudre Canyon, North Park, and Loveland

I would like to thank my good friends, Bonnie and Joshua Butler, for their companionship over miles of trail, for graciously letting me use their living room floor during the course of my research for this book, and for the use of some of the photos included in it. To my friends Terry Gimbel and Rick Gardner at the Colorado State Forest State Park, thanks for providing me with history, safety, and wildlife insights along the way. Vern Bentley, Hal Wentz, Kathy Kennedy, and Anne Carlstrom at the Routt National Forest also generously shared their knowledge about the Zirkel and Never Summer Wildernesses. Thanks to Dan Hillhouse and my father, Jay Edwards, for the fly fishing scoop. Thanks also to Jim Dustin, editor of the Jackson County Star, for the opportunity to get the word out that North Park is where its at.

I thank the staff members at the Larimer and Jackson County libraries and the North Park Pioneer and Fort Collins museums for their patience and thorough knowledge of local history. Muchissima gracias to Aaron Gale and Krista Smith for their trail companionship. Thanks go to my mother, Carol Edwards, for the Lake Katherine photograph, the help in editing, not to mention her enduring belief in me, throughout the making of this book. And thanks to my husbands parents, Rich and Jeanne Koschnitzki, for passing on a treasure trove of Geological Survey maps, a true heirloom, and for bringing your son into this world to share mother nature with me for a lifetime.

Special thanks go to Chris Mueller at the Jackson County Geological Information Services for his mapmaking expertise and infinite patience with my maniacal perfectionism. Finally, I am immensely grateful to my husband, Ken Koschnitzki, who helped greatly in the editing process and who clocked many a mile and shared many a breathtaking moment with me from the top of a mountain. I couldnt have done it without you, Ken.

I want to acknowledge the contributors who donated funds to cover the cost of producing the maps. Thanks go to North Park State Bank; Flies Only Tackle Shop; Owl Mountain Partnership; Western Environment and Ecology, Inc.; the North Park Chamber of Commerce; the Routt National Forest; Colorado State Forest State Park; North Park KOA; and North Park Odd Fellows Lodge No. 118, I.O.O.F.

I used maps from many sources, including park brochures, flyers, leaflets, city bike-route maps, and county natural-area handouts. However, most of my map information was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey topographical maps and by maps for Routt, Arapaho, and Roosevelt National Forests. I used a wealth of fascinating historical research in an effort to give each hiking trail a richer sense of place. Please see the references section for more information on historical sources.