RMNP - Bluebird Lake

Earlier in the year, I had hiked to Ouzel Lake; Bluebird Lake is "only" a few miles from Ouzel, so I thought I would tackle Bluebird.  It looked like it would be a beautiful day and I couldn't think of anything I would rather do the day before my 58th birthday.

If you want to learn more about the hike to Ouzel Lake, please stop by my journal entry for that on July 21.  In July, everything was green, now Fall is in full swing.

Leaf litter on the trail

Aspen color and blue sky

Golden aspen in the Sun

The aspen at higher elevations are almost done

The hike from the Ouzel-Bluebird junction to Bluebird Lake is one of the more strenuous climbs I've made.  It doesn't look like much on the map, but there are about three tough climbs along with moderate grades in between that make it a leg-burner.  The trail is mixed scrub pine (subalpine forest is the catchy name for it), along with rocks and some decent scrambling.

Looking down on a chute to scramble up

Once you get there, Bluebird Lake is stunning, nestled below several 12 and 13000 foot peaks (Ouzel, Mahana, Copeland).  Here are some pictures, I hope you like them.

Bluebird Lake & Ouzel Peak (12716')

West Ridge of Copeland Mountain (13176')

Mahana Peak(12632')

The day started great but it looked like some thunderstorms might be moving in so I headed down.

Dark clouds behind Ouzel Peak

It turned out the storms all dissipated, but better safe than sorry.

Overall Track Statistics for RMNP - Bluebird Lake,   1750 data points

 Length 12.676 miles  :  Garmin Length 13.668 miles

 Start Elevation - 8544.78 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 10991.44 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8345.44 feet

 Date of Hike - Sep 23, 2016

 Start Time - 07:56 AM

 End Time - 02:25 PM

 Total Duration -     6:28 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3058.89 feet

 Total Descent - 3258.23 feet

 Net Ascent - -199.34 feet

 Maximum Grade - 26.50%

 Average Speed -  1.96 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.11 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 759.51 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.89 mph
Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 13.14%