Adventures in Hiking (& other stuff): Drake - Crosier Mountain & Piper Meadow

My last hike was 26 days ago. Between going on a camping trip and remodeling the laundry, I haven't had time for hiking. I took timeout from the laundry remodel to tackle Crosier Mountain Trail.

My first trip to the Crosier Mountain Trail was in 2009 or 2010. I only hike a few miles, but had decided someday to tackle it all. For most of 2015/6 the road to Glen Haven was under construction and the TH was closed, then in the fall of 2016 the road through the Big Thompson Canyon was closed. Last week that road opened up for the summer, so I decided today was the day.

The day was just about perfect. It was cool in the morning then warmed up to the low 70s by early afternoon, with a nice single digit wind; just enough to keep the sweat manageable. The trail to Crosier Mountain is basically one long five mile climb; steep in most places, but broken up often enough with small flat meadows to not be a complete killer.

Terrain at the trailhead

First big meadow to break the climb

Several times in the climb I was able to catch a glimpse of the North Fork of the Big Thompson Valley and the Big Thompson canyon.

North Fork Valley, looking to Pinnacle Peak in the BT Canyon

There were a couple of small caves along the way. I'm betting at some time there were bears here.

Cave along the way

Actually there are still bear in the vicinity; although I didn't see one, I did see a track.

After about two hours of climbing, I reached the spur trail to Crosier Mountain Summit. The summit is a 600ft vertical climb in a half mile. I had more to see, so I skipped the summit and continued on. On the north side of the mountain, the trail descents through thick pine forest to open into a large area known as Piper Meadow.

My first glimpse of Piper Meadow

The trail makes a large triangle to circumnavigate the meadow. The views along the meadow and the variety of scenery and history is pretty cool.

Overlooking the meadow and into RMNP

A Cabin ruin

Knapps Knob ; small hill named after Ira Knapp of Glen Haven

Animal skeletons

I finished the loop and began the trek back. It was a challenging climb back up to Crosier Mountain and an even more challenging steep descent to the truck. As you can see in some of the pictures, the wildflowers were out in force and I went wild taking pictures of wildflowers. Here they are.