Escaping The Nutshell

Starting at Button Rock Preserve parking area (approx elev 6000 ft), we hiked up Longmont Dam Road to the outlet of Button Rock (Ralph Price) Reservoir, then to the top of the dam, then along the north shore of the reservoir, and finally south to the North St Vrain Creek gauging station (approx elev 6200 ft) upstream from its entry into the reservoir. You can see the GPS tracks for this hike.

The video shows the falls of the old Longmont Reservoir, ducks in the reservoir, the outlet of Button Rock Reservoir, the side and top of the dam, Button Rock Reservoir itself, the Rattlesnake Gulch inlet, the Cook Mtn - Point 6785 saddle (approx elev 6700 ft), and the North St Vrain Creek at the gauging station upstream from its entry to the reservoir. Our GPS showed the one way distance to the gauging station to be 4.6 miles (an underestimate), so the total round trip distance would be around 10 miles. Our GPS ran out of juice shortly after we began our return from the gauging station.