Rabbit Mountain Summit, 12/04/2005
This was a cold and very windy day, so in spite of it being Sunday, there were only a few cars in the Rabbit Mountain Trailhead parking area. Although we have run and hiked the Eagle Wind Trail for years we had never gone beyond this trail up to the summit of Rabbit Mountain, one reason being that going east and south of the trail from February 1st through July 31st can get you fined. So this was a great day to do it, considering also that the weather didn't allow for anything very ambitious today.
We started hiking at 10:57. On reaching the most eastern point on the Eagle Wind Trail, we left it, following an old double track dirt path southeast for about 0.2 miles. Then as the path reached its closest point to the summit, we left it, traveling northeast across trackless brush for about 0.2 miles, reaching the summit at about noon.
The summit is actually nice. There is a great view to the east where a spine of sedimentary rock (Dakota Hogback) about a quarter mile away running north to south in parallel with the Rabbit Mtn ridge forms a secluded gulch. Incidentally, the summit of Rabbit Mtn is also part of the Dakota Hogback, having the abundance of pebbles in sandstone (chert pebble conglomerate), whereas only about 0.4 miles down to the trail, the sandstone is without pebbles (Lyons sandstone?).
Leaving the summit, we hiked north along the ridge for about a mile. We saw several deer down in the gulch to the east, along with a coyote hunting alone. Returning along the west side of the ridge, our path formed a loop, and we ended up back at the most eastern point on the Eagle Wind Trail, returning to the parking area at 14:00.
| Place name | Elev [ft] | Accuracy [ft] | Lat/Lon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabbit Mountain Trailhead | 5518 | 20 | 40.24651/105.22430 |
| Rabbit Mountain Summit | 6012 | 8 | 40.2361/105.1978 |
Topomap of the Rabbit Mountain Area
Rabbit Mountain Page at Boulder County Parks
References:
- The geology of the Rabbit Mountain Area Colorado, Louis Otto Quam, 1932, Thesis (M.S.), University of Colorado Boulder.
- Structural geology of the Rabbit Mountain-Dowe Pass area; Boulder and Larimer counties Colorado, Charles Day Masters, 1957, Thesis (M.S.), University of Colorado Boulder.