Centennial Drive Hill Repeats

Directions to the Trailhead

    The Fort Collins Trail Runners use the west Pineridge Natural Area Trailhead when we do hill repeats on the stadium road. Here are the directions from Shields and West Elizabeth intersection (west side of CSU campus):    

    Take West Elizabeth west for 2.0 miles until it dead ends at Overland Trail. Turn left (south) on Overland Trail. After 1.25 miles, turn right (west) onto County Road 42C (this is the road that goes west towards the foothills, passing just south of Hughes Stadium). Follow the road as it bends left (south) and starts going up the hill. At 0.9 miles, there is a gravel turn off (left) for the Pineridge Natural Area parking area. We meet by the interpretive sign.

    There is a vault toilet in the lower parking lot, but there is no running water at this trailhead.

The Route  

    From the upper parking lot, we run out the parking lot entrance, turn left and follow the stadium road up around the bend (this is a steep climb). This approach is approximately 0.38 miles with 193 feet of vertical climb. The hill repeat section begins a few yards up from the 3-way junction with Centennial Drive. The climb from here to the top of the hill is approximately 243 feet and 0.44 miles*. The average grade is 10.5%. Here is a table showing the distance and vertical climb for various numbers of repeats (includes the approach):

* Values estimated from a freehand route using topographical mapping software. The distance and climb might be off by up to 10%.

Below is a map and profile (no vertical exaggeration -- that's how steep it really is!).