January 27, 2008
It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the way it is: The Round Mt Trail leads to Sheep Mt. Confusing, especially since I can’t find a Round Mt anywhere in the area. 
I hiked this mountain during a  wonderful heat wave in late January when the mercury hit 55. Quite a change from the single-digits we were seeing just the week before. I started under a partly-cloudy sky from the trailhead, which sits at around 5,700’,  at 10:45. There was an astonishing lack of snow at the trailhead, and only marginal snow even up high. A strong Chinook wind was drying things out. The well-marked trail lead through ponderosa pine and Douglas fir on a north-face overlooking the Big Thompson for about a mile, then turned south and the canyon was largely lost from view. In this part of the Big Thompson, one can easily mistake himself as being in the Poudre Canyon further north. There were some patches of ice on the trail, and it made for some slips and slides, but overall it was pretty clear up to about 7,000 ft. Nice granite outcroppings lined many sections of the trail, and there’s a memorable section of trail that passes through a slice in the granite, whether natural or manmade I can’t tell. I made it to the summit in about 2:15, and was a little disappointed at the almost complete lack of view. Only a narrow strip of horizon to the west was visible through the thick tree cover, allowing a glimpse of Longs, Meeker, Otis, Hallet and maybe a couple of others. The wind was blowing like a banshee up there, even with the trees. A rock pyramid marked the true summit, complete with summit log. I ate lunch a few dozen feet away with a few more trees around me to block the wind, then trekked back down the trail. About 500 yards down, I turned northeast and hiked through the trail to a nice granite knob that had a much better view than the summit. Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. Though the wind was ferocious, I enjoyed the little side trip, from where I could see almost all of Loveland, everything to the south and much of the Indian Peaks and Rocky Mt National Park. Though I tried to drink plenty of water, the brisk hike, dry air and strong wind conspired to dehydrate me, and I felt fairly crappy by the time I made it back to the car at around 3:15, for a total hiking time of around 4.5 hours.

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