RMNP - Lion Lakes & Snowbank Lake

It has been awhile since I posted a journal entry.  It has been a busy late summer, early fall.  I've always wanted to hike to many of the lakes in the Wild Basin area of RMNP, but they have all seemed very long.  Now that I have a bit more stamina, I decided to tackle Lion Lakes.  The hike to Lion Lake follows the same general track as many of the lake hikes in Wild Basin do; follow the trail to Calypso Cascade, then on to Ouzel Falls then on to the junction with Ouzel Lake.  Once there you begin the hike along Thunder Lake Trail to the junction with the Lion Lake Trail.  Up to this point the hike is a long, steady, and moderate climb through dense forest, with some periodic views of the surrounding landscape.   You can begin to tell that Fall is in full swing.  The aspens were out in force.

Long distance line of aspens

A small aspen grove.  Stunning

Once at the Lion Lake Trail junction, the trail climbs steeply then begins a moderate up/down for several miles before reaching Lion Lake #1. You can tell that this area was glaciated at some time, there are some huge rocks just sitting in the middle of the meadows.

Glacier remains?

 Even though it was a nice day, there was still a little ice around.

Ice on the puddles

It seemed to take forever, but I came up out of the trees and there was Lion Lake #1.

Pop out on a nice  meadow, then down through some trees and then Lion Lake #1.

Lion Lake #1 (from the inlet)

Once at Lion Lake #1, I followed the steep trail alongside the creek to Lion Lake #2.  Once there, I could not resist that final attempt at Snowbank Lake.  While all these lakes are incredible, Snowbank Lake takes the prize.

Lion Lake #2, Snowbank is just above

Couldn't resist the reflection of the clouds and the one red wildflower

A snowbank at Snowbank Lake

Snowbank Lake and the west ridge of Chief's Head Mountain

Snowbank Lake and the Continental Divide

Overall this was a uneventful hike that was well worth the effort.  One interesting thing did happen that has never happened before.  On the way back down from Snowbank Lake, while sitting eating my lunch at the inlet to Lion Lake #1, I saw a hiker come out from the trail near the outlet of the lake.  At that point the hiker stopped, put down their pack and started walking about like they were looking for something.  Then they stopped, looked back at the lake squatted down, looked at the lake again, then squatted down for a long time.  Now I sure you know what I was thinking at that point, but soon the hiker jumped up, ran to a rock in front of the lake and did a handstand!  It wasn't a very good handstand, so they then walked back to, what I now knew was a camera, squatted, then ran back and did a perfect handstand.  They then walked back to the camera, picked everything up and head back down the mountain.  There is a first time for everything.

Here are a few other pictures of landscapes I found interesting.

Mt Alice (13310')

Waterfall between Snowbank and Lion #2

Small escarpment to climb

Overall Track Statistics for RMNP - Lion Lake,   1997 data points

 Length 14.839 miles  :  Garmin Length 16.044 miles

 Start Elevation - 8535.93 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 11552.56 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8363.19 feet

 Date of Hike - Sep 16, 2016

 Start Time - 07:53 AM

 End Time - 03:28 PM

 Total Duration -     7:34 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3830.02 feet

 Total Descent - 3876.61 feet

 Net Ascent - -46.59 feet

 Maximum Grade - 23.92%

 Average Speed -  1.96 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.12 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 701.31 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.17 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 12.72%