The Riverbend Ponds Natural Area in Fort Collins is just one of many oases found within the city limits. But this one is one of my favorites.
Riverbend Ponds Natural Area hovers on the north-east side of the Cache la Poudre River where it bends from flowing east to flowing south. The 218 square acres of Riverbend Ponds Natural Area include seven ponds and supposedly 200 species of birds! You can see a heron and a black and white pelican in this video… and a dragonfly!
Conveniently for Fort Collins fishing, the ponds are stocked by Colorado Parks and Wildlife with bass, wiper, bluegill, black crappie, and channel catfish. And I’ve personally seen huge carp in the large pond. Oh, and a humongous turtle. Here is a great list of all the Fort Collins ponds and the native and stocked fish.
The seven ponds on this side of the river were originally gravel pits created from the 1950s to the 1970s. I presume the same is true for all the ponds on the other side of the river that make up the Cattail Chorus Natural Area and Kingfisher Point Natural Area.
For this video, I only filmed around the three most northern ponds (Turtle Pond, Trout Pond and ?) and along the Poudre River. This is not a comprehensive video, just an impression. Most notably, I left out the largest pond and the wetlands to the east.
The Riverbend Ponds are accessible on the north end via Timberline, on the south end via Prospect Road, by riding your bike along the Poudre Trail and on an inner tube by cruising down the river.
One of my favorite places in all of Fort Collins is the rocky beach you can see in the last shots of the video. I discovered it and named it No Booze Riverbend last year, when Judith and Christoph were visiting from Berlin and we stopped by there… without booze, naturally. Ah, the lovely memories made in this spot with friends and Whiskey dog.
I love coming to the Riverbend Ponds at any time of year – as long as I never run into that woman with those aggressive German shepherds again.
The song in this video is called “Rainy Day” and was written and performed by my dear friend Hollie Greer, who currently plays in the band As Is in Gainesville, Florida. Thank you for the beautiful song, Hollie. I think it fits quite well on a sunny day, too.
Don’t be shy, check out more photos from this lovely day in the sun: Photos of Riverbend Ponds, Fort Collins (Colorado).
