The Secret of: Gateway Natural Area, Poudre Canyon, Colorado

View from the saddle at Seaman Reservoir looking back at the dam

As we move back into a “Safer at Home” COVID 19 phase for the fall, I am reminded of my “The Secret of…” series I started with Eagle’s Nest, so it’s time for another one! Now that the wildfires are abated and locals may be looking for a new place to explore that isn’t burnt to a crisp, let me tell you about the secret of Gateway Natural Area which actually isn’t the area at all, but adjoining Seaman Reservoir!

Gateway Natural area is a beautiful little verdant park nestled near the confluence of the North Fork of the Poudre River and the Poudre a few miles up the namesake canyon. With short nature trails, fishing, plenty of picnicking areas, and nice views of the river from the bridge, the park in itself is a beautiful place to visit in the spring and summer. I have fond memories of practicing zip line crossings across the river here with the search and rescue team.

However, if you continue up the trail beyond the bridge across the river, you will come to a massive dam and a trail that leads up the left side of the dam. Here you are technically crossing into Greeley Water’s Milton Seaman Reservoir territory, though you will find fisherman, hikers, and illegal swimmers all along this rustic, unimproved trail which is a historic trail known as the Wintersteen Trail that once travelled to Grey Rock, but since has been heavily grown over with plenty of deadfall in places further up this legacy trail.

The next mile and a half has beautiful views of the reservoir as you climb along the west side of it. Stay on the trail nearest the shore for the first half mile, then the trail bifurcates, the Wintersteen heads west, instead follow north across a drainage along the unmarked Seaman Trail which crosses up over a saddle to the other side of a peninsula.

A view from the peninsula at the north part of the reservoir where the island resides

Once you crest the saddle, you will find more gorgeous views of the reservoir. As you drop back down the hill and hug the reservoir edge, in the summer time you will find local teenagers having a great time jumping off of the cliff faces and swimming to the island just off the shoreline. In the wintertime you will find plenty of ice fishermen out near the island testing their luck with the thin ice and the fish nibbling! The trail proceeds through a drainage delta meadow before approaching some ominous cliff faces. However, these cliffs can be carefully traversed along the water’s edge to continue on northwest until you meet a small inlet with a sand bar where the trail ends.

A view from the marshy delta looking back at the island and diving cliffs

You have reached the inlet of the North Fork of the Poudre which enters the reservoir from the north. Steep cliffs block any further progress northward. If you are felling adventurous, you can walk up the little drainage to the west to explore, but there isn’t much of a trail there, it is bushwhacking.