RMNP - Balanced Rock

Well we returned from our short trip to Idaho and I decided that it was time to head out on another hike.  Since it had been two weeks plus a day since my hike to Ouzel Falls, I decided that a slightly shorter and less strenuous hike was in order.  I thought that a trip to Balanced Rock from the Cow Creek trailhead in RMNP would fit the bill.  This trip should be about 8.5 miles round trip from Cow Creek to Balanced Rock and back.  I got a good early start (was out of the house by 7) and was at the trailhead in almost exactly one hour.  The Cow Creek trailhead is at the old MacGraw Ranch site.

The early part of the trail is along an old ranch road that slowly narrows to a two track ATV-like trail and finally to a single track hiking trail.  Since RMNP doesn't allow motorized vehicles, I'm sure these roads were original roads used by the ranch-hands.  The trail loosely follows Cow Creek.  I decided that, today, I would stop and talk to people on the trail.  At least I would try to say more than 'hi'.  Before I got out of the trailhead I was met by some folks from Illinois who were looking for the trailhead to Bridal Veil Falls.  I told them, 'yep, this is it'.  About a mile in I met a couple from Arkansas.  They were also headed to Bridal Veil Falls.  I soon reached the Cow Creek/Gem Lake/Balanced Rock trail junction, turned left and headed up the hill.  However, before I headed up the hill, I had to go down and cross Cow Creek.  Like I tell the Grandkids, for every up there is a down.

Cow Creek Crossing

The trail began a long strenuous climb up to the Balanced Rock/Gem Lake trail junction.  The trail was full of rocks and alot of good forest growth, so the views were limited.  But I did get a few shots of the Mummy Range.

Mummy Range (1)

Mummy Range (1)

Mummy Range (1)

This last picture I took with my phone.  While you are up on the mountain you can think that you are in the middle of nowhere and 'civilization' is a long way off, but then you get a peek through the trees and find the road you drove in on is not all that far away.

MacGregor Road

Before long I made the turn from the Gem Lake Trail to the Balanced Rock trail and my final mile to Balanced Rock.  This trail was along the ridge top so was fairly flat.  Interestingly, Balanced Rock is actually in a small glen down off the ridge top a ways.

Balanced Rock

There were some early signs of Fall in the glen.  Aspens were starting to turn color.

Early sign of fall (1)

Early sign of fall (2)

It was still early in the day, but I was at my objective so it was time to head back.  As I moseyed back to the Balanced Rock/Gem Lake trail junction, I decided to take a side trip to Gem Lake.  I had time and wasn't too tired.   Along the way I found 'hole in the rock'

Hole in the rock

and a batch of berries.  I wonder if a bear will find those.

Berries

Also, along the way I met a Mother and her son out on an overnight backpacking trip.  After talking to them for a bit, I learned that the batteries for their headlamp and UV water filter were dead.  I had a spare set of "AA" and "AAA" batteries, so i gave them to her.  I also gave them a bottle of water, since they were nearly out of water and it was still 3 miles to Cow Creek.

It was not much longer and I made it to Gem Lake where I decided to eat my lunch.  While there a chipmunk decided to attempt to share my lunch with me, but a few well aimed handfuls of sand discouraged that idea.

Gem lake

I hope to return to Gem Lake later this year with my daughter and her family.  

Well the day was pretty much over, so I started to head home.   As I was headed home I again encountered the Mother and Son hiking duo.  We stopped and chatted for a while.  I learned she was a US Army veteran that had been wounded in 2005 in Iraq and had spent several years on the mend.  She left the Army last year and now lives in Castle Rock.  Pretty cool!

I quickly made it back to Cow Creek TH and headed down the mountain to home sweet home.  The track statistics are below.  I believe the total length was closer to 10 miles since I didn't start the track for about a mile.

Overall Track Statistics for track RMNP - Balanced Rock

 Length 9.087 miles

 Start Elevation - 8040.26 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 8830.31 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 7787.57 feet

 Date of Hike - Sep 10, 2015

 Start Time - 08:25 AM

 End Time - 01:00 PM

 Total Duration -     4:35 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 1868.18 feet

 Total Descent - 2120.87 feet

 Net Ascent - -252.69 feet

 Maximum Grade - 16.61%

 Average Speed -  1.98 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 567.85 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.92 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 10.17%