From January 4-6, Nick and I stayed in rustic cabins at the North Michigan Reservoir at State Forest State Park in Colorado. This is a gorgeous part of the state, near Walden and the Rawah Wilderness and Medicine Bow Mountains. Nick had a month off for winter break, and has a busy year ahead in his compressed grad school year, so a few days off in a socially distanced trip sounded nice.
This was not my first time at the cabins; in May 2019, I joined a Meetup group of strangers who stayed in the 20-person cabin that is available at the Reservoir. It was a great time, very snowy even in May, and struck me as a great, fairly isolated place for a getaway, so I thought of it when we were thinking of doing a January trip.
Day 1
Nick and I headed out January 4, stopping for a nice hearty breakfast on the Snooze patio in Fort Collins, which is only an hour away from Denver. I find if the sun is on you, sitting outside is lovely even if it is fairly cold. We then drove 2 hours through Poudre Canyon on Highway 14 to get to State Forest State Park. This was our first time driving in this area since the Cameron Peak Fire, which truly was a devastating fire this summer. We saw burned trees and scorched land, and it was honestly amazing how many structures and houses in the area were saved in these area. Firefighters did an amazing job, and we saw lots of signs thanking them. By the way, the Roosevelt National Forest in this area was still closed when we were there, so it’s important to check for closures before you head out to different recreational areas.
The drive is gorgeous along the Poudre River, which was flowing but icy and snow-covered. Then, as we approached State Forest State Park, there started to be truly stunning scenery of the mountains. Because the weather was scheduled to be sunny and the warmest of our days there (in the 30s!), we decided to stop along the way to hike and snowshoe on the Lake Agnes Trail.
We chose the trail from our snowshoeing book. It is 5 miles in winter; you park in a parking area along the road, which is closed to cars, and hike along the road. We didn’t need our snowshoes for this (spikes only), and walked along the road uphill; the views are stunning from the get go of the mountains and the Nokhu Crags, this fantastical rock formation. After a little over a mile you reach the summer trailhead, which has a historic cabin ruin and opens up to stunning views.
At this point, we needed snowshoes (or skis, we saw some skiiers as well!) as the snow was deep. We had to work on our snowshoeing uphill skills.
After another mile or so, we made it to the lake which is just stunning. It is frozen and the Nokhu Crags and in full view. Nick and I particularly enjoyed this hike because when we did our American Lakes backpacking trip over the summer, we were right on the other side of the Nokhu Crags at Snow Lake. Now we have seen both sides! It was lovely and sunny out so we took a brief snack break before heading back.
The timing worked out well to get to our cabin around 4 pm. There is a good, snowy dirt road leading to the cabins. The notes for the cabin suggested we might need snowshoes for the 100 feet from the parking down, but we didn’t when we arrived. We appeared to be the only ones staying at the cabins, and it was quiet and beautiful in the late afternoon.
Check in was easy as we just had to use a code to get into the cabin (no human interaction!), and unload our stuff. The cabin has propane heat, a table, bunk beds, and cozy futon type couch. It has a solar light and no electricity, and there is no cell reception. After we unpacked, we chilled our beers outside in the snow and attempted to make a fire in the grill, but it would not catch. We brought our backpacking stove and simple dehydrated meals along with some snacks to keep the cooking easy since the cabin does not provide a kitchen. We even roasted some marshmallows with the backpacking stove for s’mores.
We watched a gorgeous sunset and settled in for an evening of reading and games. It was truly peaceful, quiet, and relaxing. The three cabins share a basic composting toilet bathroom, so we did have to trek through the snow for the bathroom.
Day 2
The forecast had a small chance for snow on Tuesday with an inch, at most, expected. We woke up to try to watch a sunrise and it was snowy.
We had a lovely breakfast with hot coffee and spent most of the day reading and playing games inside our cozy cabin. It stopped snowing briefly and we saw some sun, but it just kept going. It ended up snowing a lot of the day! To go to the bathroom, I started strapping on my snowshoes, along with my gaiters and boots. The snow was getting really deep!
We got some pictures in the afternoon when the snow stopped briefly. We decided to bundle up in every layer including rain gear and snowshoe around outside our cabin on the frozen reservoir.
It turned out to be good timing because the snow continued into the evening. We really enjoyed having a peaceful, snowed in day.
Day 3
The next morning, we actually did see more of a sunrise and awoke to a sunny, but frigid, day. Temperatures were not supposed to get above freezing all day and it was cold, but felt better with sun!
After a nice hot breakfast, we decided to head out for a snowshoe right down the road. The road we drove in on continued to some winter trailheads for yurts, also available to stay at in winter. Our snowshoeing book suggested the yurt trails for outings.
We got to enjoy snowshoeing in perfect, sparkling fresh snow and even started to warm up in the sun. The mountain views from the road were beautiful. We did see a few cars parked for the yurts, and were passed by a few cars on the road. Apparently others were excited by the fresh snow and beautiful day and excited to get out for some backcountry skiing or snowshoeing. After about 1.5 miles roundtrip, we were back at the cabins and other cars had joined ours. We some guys headed down to the reservoir for ice fishing.
We packed up our cabin and snowshoed up to the car with our belongings. We swept up and enjoyed last views. With all the snow, we put Autosocks on my front wheels, which is a chain alternative. They worked well to help us get out on the snowy dirt road (by now there was also a family getting ready to ski/sled/snowshoe in the lot as well!).
We had a beautiful, different drive back, with everything covered in snow. We got some last looks at the Nokhu Crags, majestic as ever in the sun. It was odd as we got closer to Fort Collins, there was less and suddenly no snow. Very strange after all the snow we had gotten at the cabin!
We ended the trip with a meal outside a distillery in Fort Collins, with a lovely firepit to keep us warm. And, we even grabbed some ice cream at Old Town Churn. With the sun and another fire pit, it felt like a perfect ending to the trip.
Overall, I highly recommend these cabins for a getaway! They are rustic but a perfect pandemic era getaway.
Here is some recommended gear for a trip like this. These are affiliate links which allow me to collect a small amount of money for items bought, but I only link items I like and use.
Kahtoola Microspikes – Nick and I both have these traction devices – they easily slip on and off your boots for traction on ice while hiking.
Black Diamond Gaiters – These are the gaiters I have. They prevent snow from getting inside your boot when hiking and snowshoeing in deep snow. A genius little invention!
CMC Snowshoeing Book – Colorado Mountain Club’s snowshoeing book. I love how detailed this book is in describing snowshoeing trails!