OK, so it is April 20th. We had a big snow storm over the weekend. I delayed my Monday hike to Wednesday in the hopes that some of the snow would melt. Well, some did, but not enough. So, a straight hike was out of the question, snowshoes it was. This is the latest that I have used snowshoes.
Upper Beaver Meadows is a large meadow sitting pretty much in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park. It is north of, and just over the moraine from the Moraine Park area. While I have driven by Beaver Meadows many times, this was the first time I have hiked there.
After parking the truck I got ready and headed out on the trail. This is what the road and trail looked like at about 0830.
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| Trail starts near the sign on the left |
It looked like I could manage for a while without my snowshoes, so I clamped them to my pack and headed out. The first mile or so was a mix of 3"-4" snow cover and clear trail. However, after making the turn toward the Ute Trail and Ute Meadows campground, the snow depth increased quickly. About a quarter of the way to the campground, it was time to put on the snowshoes.
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| Time for the snowshoes |
As the trail worked it way into a long valley between two ridges, the snow got very deep. I guessed about three feet. Even with my snowshoes, I would sink into the snow about a foot or more. This made the going quite challenging. I knew I was also on the ascent, but I didn't think it was too bad until I got home and discovered it was over 7%. No wonder I was getting tired. I decided to cut the hike short and make the turn for home. Going down was, obviously, quite a bit easier. I also saw that a storm was coming from the east.
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| Storm coming |
I worked my way around to the official Beaver Meadows Trailhead and then road walked back to the truck.
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| Official Trailhead |
I was the only one on the trail today and was the only one on the Ute trail since it snowed. This is a great hike and I will do again this summer, hopefully going all the way to Trail Ridge road on the Ute trail.
Overall Track Statistics for RMNP - BeaverMdw, 779 data points
Length 5.296 miles : Garmin Length 5.551 miles
Start Elevation - 8356.23 feet
Maximum Elevation - 8877.76 feet
Minimum Elevation - 8240.85 feet
Date of Hike - Apr 20, 2016
Start Time - 08:45 AM
End Time - 11:36 AM
Total Duration - 2:51 hours:min
Total Ascent - 809.35 feet
Total Descent - 924.74 feet
Net Ascent - -115.39 feet
Maximum Grade - 10.03%
Average Speed - 1.86 mph : Garmin Average Speed 1.94 mph
Maximum Ascent over Mile - 442.49 feet
Maximum Speed over Mile - 3.11 mph
Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 7.63%
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