Foothills Nature Trail

This trail is managed by the City of Loveland. The trailhead parking area is located in the Big Thompson Canyon, approximately 4 miles west of The Dam Store on Colorado State Highway 34 (approximately 12 miles west of Loveland). The trail is mostly an old dirt road which used to be used to access the water line from the old Idlewild dam. Nowadays, it's just a nature trail. The City of Loveland will even provide you with a printed handout that explains the different flora and fauna and wildlife that you might encounter along the way. But for our purposes, you don't need no handout! This trail is a gradual climb through mostly thick Ponderosa Pine cover. Towards the end of the trail, the road ends and it's singletrack to the top where the overlook is. The overlook is a pretty neat hut constructed out of river bed rocks. It is situated near the edge of the canyon, providing you with a nice glimpse down to the canyon floor and the river.