For years, if you started a ride at the Rist Canyon Road trailhead in Bellvue, you had two options: turn around somewhere south of Timnath, or peel off onto county roads to finish your route. The Poudre River Trail existed in pieces. Fort Collins had its stretch. Timnath and Windsor had theirs. Greeley had a separate 21-mile section that connected to nothing north of it. You could ride a long way. You just couldn't ride through.
That changed this year. The final gap, a one-mile stretch between south Timnath and north Windsor, closed, and the trail now runs 45 uninterrupted miles from Bellvue to Greeley. Denver7 confirmed the completion in early June, calling it the last piece of a project that took five decades to finish. If you live in Bellvue and haven't ridden the whole thing yet, here's what actually changed, and what else is filling the calendar now that the leaves are about to turn.
The gap took two closings, not one
The trail's completion wasn't a single ribbon-cutting. It happened in two stages, in two different jurisdictions, eighteen months apart.
The first came at the end of 2024, when the City of Fort Collins closed its final two in-town gaps, which meant that for the first time, someone starting in Bellvue could ride continuously to Timnath without leaving the trail. That got you most of the way. What was still missing was the piece between south Timnath and north Windsor, a stretch Larimer County describes as a 10-foot-wide concrete path plus a bridge over the Greeley No. 2 Canal. Crews started that work in September 2025, and by early June of this year the connection was confirmed finished, on a $2 million project built by Connell Resources and funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, CDOT, and other grants.
One mile of new concrete and a canal bridge doesn't sound like much. It's the difference between a trail that dead-ends near a canal and one that actually gets you somewhere.
What 45 miles gets you now
The trail's Bellvue trailhead sits on Rist Canyon Road. From there, it runs roughly six miles into Fort Collins, threading through Lee Martinez Park and Old Fort Collins Heritage Park along the river. From Fort Collins it continues southeast through Timnath, where the trail used to stop cold south of Timnath Community Park. Past the newly closed gap, it picks up again in Windsor and runs about 21 more miles to Greeley, passing Rain Dance National Golf Course, Pelican Lakes, and finishing near Island Grove Park.
| Stretch | Rough distance | Landmarks along the way |
|---|---|---|
| Bellvue to Fort Collins | about 6 miles | Rist Canyon Road trailhead, Lee Martinez Park |
| Fort Collins to Timnath | connected since late 2024 | Old Fort Collins Heritage Park, Timnath Community Park |
| Timnath to Windsor | the gap, closed by early June 2026 | new concrete path and canal bridge |
| Windsor to Greeley | about 21 miles | Rain Dance National Golf Course, Pelican Lakes, Island Grove Park |
None of this required Bellvue to grow. The community is still a small unincorporated stretch of Pleasant Valley, tucked between the Dakota Hogback and the foothills, without a town hall or a stoplight. What changed is that the trail behind your house now connects to something instead of stopping.
Larimer County's Department of Natural Resources put it plainly when the last segment opened:
"Completion of the Poudre River Trail ensures that our community members have an easy, accessible connection to nature, no matter where they live."
For Bellvue, that's not an abstraction. It's the difference between a there-and-back ride and a one-way trip you can plan around a pickup at the other end.
The calendar doesn't slow down once the leaves turn
The trail isn't the only thing on the schedule this fall. Two events, both a short drive from anywhere in the valley, are worth marking down.
The Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department's Mountain Festival lands on Saturday, September 12, at the department's station on Rist Canyon Road. This is the festival's 50th year, and it's exactly the kind of event that only makes sense in a place this size: free admission, a tractor-pulled hayride shuttle from the parking area, firefighter demonstrations, a car show, a used book sale, and the department's well-known free ice cream. Live music this year includes Liz Barnez, Wendy Woo, Also Known As, and the Gordon Creek Band, with some listings also naming Choice City Trio. Last year's event drew about 3,500 attendees and raised more than $30,000 for the department, according to the RCVFD's own newsletter. Bellvue's entire population, per the U.S. Census, is 4,382. Nearly eight in ten residents' worth of people show up for a fundraiser held by an all-volunteer fire department. That's not a small-town nicety. That's most of the neighborhood turning out on purpose.
A month later, on October 16, Mishawaka Amphitheatre hosts Dermot Kennedy on his Weight of the Woods tour, with Jonah Kagen opening. The Mish sits 13.7 miles up Poudre Canyon Highway from Fort Collins, and it's been busy all year. Earlier in 2026 the venue hosted Hippie Sabotage, Old Crow Medicine Show, and a three-night Disco Biscuits run, which gives you a sense of how wide the booking swings from electronic to Americana to jam band in a single season. Beyond the big ticketed nights, the venue runs its riverside restaurant and the indoor SpokesBUZZ Lounge year round, so it's not only a destination for headliners.
What's already here, trail or no trail
Not everything worth knowing about Bellvue involves 45 miles of pavement. A few places do the quieter work of daily life.
Howling Cow Cafe sits on the grounds of Morning Fresh Dairy, where the espresso drinks are made with milk from the roughly 1,300 cows next door. The dairy runs a 60-minute farm tour, and the cafe sells Noosa yoghurt made on site along with a four-glass tasting flight of whole, chocolate, and root beer milk. It's the kind of business that exists because the valley is still agricultural, not despite it.
If you're heading up-canyon for a show at the Mish and don't want to worry about the drive back, Riverside Colorado runs a glamping property on national forest land nearby with cabins, tiny homes, and a free shuttle to and from the venue. It's a practical option for hosting out-of-town guests who want to see a concert without anyone needing to stay sober behind the wheel on Highway 14 after dark.
Why this matters more than it sounds like it should
Bellvue has always been described the same way: quiet, rural, a haven for people who want trees and trails and some distance from town. That description was true and also incomplete, because a trail that ends abruptly isn't the same asset as a trail that goes somewhere. For most of the past decade, Bellvue's stretch of the Poudre River Trail was a nice local amenity with a hard stop. Now it's the western anchor of a regional system that reaches five towns and 45 miles.
That's the kind of change that doesn't show up in a listing description or a demographic table. It shows up on a Saturday morning when you decide to ride further than you ever have before, because for the first time, there's nowhere the trail tells you to turn around.
If you're curious about what a home in Bellvue looks like day to day, or you want a neighbor's take on the valley before you make a decision either way, At Home Realty is happy to talk it through. You can also browse our Bellvue neighborhood guide or read more about what daily life on acreage near Bellvue actually involves. Schedule a free consultation with Brendan and the team whenever you're ready.
