Sharkstooth
Trailhead: Poudre Learning Center Trailhead.
Description: The trail takes a jog crossing 95th Avenue and then parallels 95th Avenue where it then turns east to parallel the county road. This section is flat the entire distance.
Features: A variety of waterfowl can be seen on the nearby lakes. To the north in the trees along the river is a heron rookery. Also, to the North is a bald eagle nest.
The Poudre Learning Center is a premier facility for interdisciplinary learning that will focus on the importance of history, science, economics, stewardship and aesthetics of the Cache la Poudre River in Northeastern Colorado. It is housed in the relocated Hazelton School building.
Geology: As is common along the river, gravel mining activities have taken place, leaving behind lakes that are now used by waterfowl. The private lakes in this section are called Sebring Reservoir. These lakes are among the first to have been lined to allow for water storage.
History: The slopes to the Southwest once housed the Sharkstooth Ski area, thus the name of this section of trail. This unlikely location for a ski area was the brainchild of two avid skiers, Clyde Davis and Dick Perchlik. Davis, a realtor, and Perchlik, a UNC political science professor, activist, and Greeley’s Mayor, decided to fly to Steamboat Springs for an afternoon of spring skiing in 1970. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented their plane from landing at Steamboat, and they returned to Greeley, lamenting the lack of a ski area on the Eastern side of the Front Range. Flying into Greeley, they saw snow clinging to the north facing slopes of the 150′ high bluffs near Weld County Road 25 and Hwy. 34. At that point, they hatched the “impossible dream” of building an affordable and convenient ski area on the Plains.
