RMNP - The Pool (Birthday hike with DW)

My wife is not a big hiker, but she will go occasionally.  So, on her birthday, she let me take her to RMNP.  Originally, we had planned to head to Dream or Emerald Lake, but by the time we got to the park, it looked like they were at capacity and turning back cars from that area.  RMNP has seen an explosion of visitors in the last couple of years.  As a consolation prize we tackled the trail to the Pool from the Fern Lake TH.

This is a really nice, popular trail that follows the Big Thompson River as it comes down from the mountain.  There is not much elevation gain, but some very nice rock formations and a good forest walk. You are rewarded with a bridge crossing just below a small waterfall and slow spot called 'The Pool'.

 My wife is a quite the photographer, so she spent alot of time behind the camera.  It was really nice to hike with my wife.

Checking out the picture

The Pool at the end of the trail

A well deserved break

Ah!  The truck at last!

Overall Track Statistics for RMNP - The Pool w-Julie,    614 data points

 Length 4.783 miles  :  Garmin Length 5.111 miles

 Start Elevation - 8124.87 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 8327.53 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8096.82 feet

 Date of Hike - Jul 19, 2016

 Start Time - 11:26 AM

 End Time - 01:52 PM

 Total Duration -     2:25 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 543.18 feet

 Total Descent - 570.11 feet

 Net Ascent - -26.94 feet

 Maximum Grade -  7.19%

 Average Speed -  1.97 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.10 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 236.48 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.63 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  2.87%

 

RMNP - Seven Lakes (success)

It is now late July.  I decided that it was time to try again the Seven Lakes loop in RMNP.  My Seven Lakes Loop starts at Hollowell Park, loops counter clockwise to Cub Lake, Fern Lake, Odessa Lake, Lake Helene, Two Rivers Lake, Bear Lake, and Bierstadt Lake.  The last time I tried this, on June 4, I was turned back by snow cover and avalanche concerns just past Odessa Lake.  I thought for sure I could get through now.  I knew it would be a long day, so got started pretty early.  The day was bright and sunny... Beautiful!!!

Beautiful start to the day

This would be the fourth or fifth time I would use Hollowell Park for a starting point.  The trail is pretty moderate with a good, steady climb to Mills Basin.  A more strenuous climb awaited from Mills Basin to the top of the ridge overlooking Cub Lake, then a steep rocky descent from the ridge top, to Cub Lake, then on to the Pool on the Big Thompson.  All was well to the top of the ridge then I began my careful descent to Cub Lake.  As always the trail was steep and rocky, but this time there was a lot of high growth vegetation.  Most of the vegetation was young aspen trees and mountain grass.

Burn & Wildflowers near Cub Lake

 As I am carefully making my way down a steep area, I sense some movement off to my left.  I stop and look over and there, about 30 feet away in the brush I see a Bear!  I see his head and shoulder, but not much else.  We look at each other for a while trying to decide what to do.  I reach down to check that I can get to my bear spray quickly.  I decided we were too close together to try and get my camera out and take a picture, so I slowly began to move on down trail keeping an eye on where the bear was.  That was cool and exciting!

The rest of the descent to the Pool was uneventful but I was able to snap a picture of a neat waterfall and Cub Lake.

Waterfall

Cub Lake

Now came the long climb to Fern Falls, Fern Lake, and Odessa Lake.  There were a few more people on this part of the trail.  I quickly reached Fern Lake.

Fern Lake

And then Odessa Lake.

Odessa Lake

 You see a change in the picture format.  Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery on this picture of a wildflower, so I had to use my iPhone instead.

Camera battery ran out!

This was the first time I had take the trail down directly to Odessa Lake.  The Little Matterhorn and surrounding peaks look much more imposing from the lake than from the mid-mountain trail side.

Little Matterhorn

I returned to the main trail and began the ascent to the west turn toward Bear Lake.  I've included a few pictures from my aborted hike and this one to show the difference six weeks can make.

Avalanche area when there was snow!

Then

Now

Now

Then

After seeing what the trail looked like without snow, I am very thankful that I did not try and continue the last time around.

Lake Helene

I soon reached Lake Helene and made the turn for Bear Lake.

It was getting close to lunch time so I decided to get off the trail and have a bite of lunch.  I was sitting on a rock enjoying the view when a chipmunk skittered up on a rock near me.  It didn't take him long to figure out I was there and come looking for scraps.  I shooed him off and continued munching.  The chipmunk went back and gathered up a friend and came again.  Soon two chipmunks went flying by me on my right.  I was amused to watch them split up.  Pretty soon though I was being flanked, one chipmunk on my right sneaking up, one on my left sneaking up.  Hmm, I felt a little bit like Donald Duck in the Chip and Dale cartoon!  However, I was done with lunch and was ready to get back on the trail.  Next stop was Two Rivers Lake.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find an easy social path to Two Rivers Lake, so didn't get any pictures and had to settle for Marigold Pond and Mt Wuh.

Marigold Pond

Mt Wuh

Supposedly you can leave the trail and bushwack your way to the summit of Mt Wuh.  Maybe another day.  I began the long slow descent to Bear Lake meeting a lot of people on the way up.  I'm not used to seeing so many people on the trail.  The trail was beautiful though.  I didn't actually make the turn to Bear Lake mainly because I've been there a bunch of time.  I continued on to Bierstadt Lake, meeting many people on the way.  Several asked if I had been on that trail before and when I said, "yes", they asked many questions about how long it was, how to get off it, and how hard it was. Hmm...

Bierstadt Lake

I was on the home stretch!  I exited the trail into Hollowell Park and was met with one of the best photo opportunities of the day!

Longs Peak from Hollowell Park

It had been a long, but very enjoyable day.  I will do it again someday.

 Overall Track Statistics for track RMNP - Seven Lakes (success)

 Length 15.652 miles

 Start Elevation - 8089.27 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 10648.43 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8089.27 feet

 Date of Hike - Jul 22, 2015

 Start Time - 06:57 AM

 End Time - 01:49 PM

 Total Duration -     6:51 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3990.52 feet

 Total Descent - 3739.17 feet

 Net Ascent - 251.35 feet

 Maximum Grade - 28.29%

 Average Speed -  2.28 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 669.32 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.26 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 12.50%

RMNP - Seven Lakes Loop (attempt #1)

A few years ago four of us went on a hike from Bear Lake to the Fern Lake TH, then shuttled back to Bear Lake.  This hike took us past several lakes in RMNP.  It was a beautiful hike, but was pretty difficult for us at the time.  I've wanted to retrace those steps, but hike all the way in a loop.  After looking at the map and having been on parts of most of the loop, I decided on a counter-clockwise loop hike from the  Hollowell TH to Cub Lake, Fern Lake, Odessa Lake, Lake Helene, Two Rivers Lake, Bear Lake, and Bierstadt Lake.  This would be about a 14 mile hike with about 3700 feet in elevation gain.  I chose counter-clockwise to tackle the long and/or steep climbs at the beginning of the hike.  I waited until June in the hopes that enough snow would be gone that I could make the trip. Maximum elevation would be about 10500 ft. 

I picked a beautiful Friday with expected highs in the low 70s, with only a slight chance of thunderstorms.  I knew it would be a long day, so I got an early start.  I was up on the Hollowell TH by 8:00a.  Off I went.

Hollowell Park TH

The last time I was at Hollowell TH there was snow on the ground and I had my snowshoes on for a loop to the Mills Creek Basin Campground, so I pretty much knew what to expect.  I quickly got to Mills Creek Basin and found it snowless, but green as green can be.

Mills Creek Basin

A turn to the Northwest and a steady mile plus climb of the ridge between Mills Creek Basin and Cub Lake.  Once on the top of the ridgeline it was a steep, rocky descent to Cub Lake and the Pool.  As you can see the area around Cub Lake was burned several years ago and is only now starting to recover.

Cub Lake

I soon reached the Pool, but only after tripping on a rock or two.  Aargh!  I guess that's what I get when my family tells me I shuffle my feet.  Again, the last time I was at the Pool it was frozen and snow covered.  Wow, not now.

Upstream from the Pool bridge

Downstream from the Pool bridge

Now began the long steady climb to Fern Lake.  The trail to Fern Lake is about 2 miles in length and pretty much uphill the whole way.  However, about a mile and half in you get to stop and admire Fern Falls.   This was the first time in about 10 years I had seen Fern Falls flowing water.  Wow, what a rush!

Fern Falls

Soon I was at the Fern Lake Patrol Cabin and ready for the 'final ascent' to Odessa Lake.  Up to this point I had only encountered occasional patches of snow.

Fern Lake (1)

Fern Lake (2)

What I quickly learned was that the time on the snowless trail was over.  As I climbed and climbed to Odessa Lake, I encountered, a few snowdrifts that covered the trail.  These were easily walked over as there had been other hikers to tromp down the snow and the day was still young so the snow was solid and not mushy.  

What's a little snow!?

Soon however, the snowdrifts turned into a steady continuous covering of moderately deep snow (1-2 ft), which was still pretty firm.  About halfway to Odessa the 'social trail' deviated from the official trail because the official trail was not passable under the current snow conditions.  I followed the social trail, but soon it became clear that I missed something somewhere and would need to route-find my way back to the real trail.  No problem finding the trails, but it took a little map reading, compass reading, and GPS looking to make sure.

Trail?  What trail?

So, back on the trail and more snow to Odessa Lake.  I decided to take lunch at Odessa Lake.  While eating my lunch I heard what sounded like an airplane passing, so I looked up to where the sound was and that was no airplane.  That was an avalanche about a mile across the canyon from me!  Oh my!  It was impressive, but it definitely got me thinking ...  I got back on the trail, ready to head for the final turn and home. But ...

Odessa Lake

Little Matterhorn

The snow was getting deeper, it was getting later and warmer, but most importantly I began to see signs of avalanches on my side of the canyon.  I persevered, because I was only about a half mile from the turn and home, but became steadily concerned.  Finally, the Lord and I had a discussion and I decided to turn back.  Since I was well over half way through the hike, turning around meant two things; 1) the hike would be much longer that I originally planned and 2) I would not get home when I said I would.  So while thinking about all that, I discovered I had cell service!!!  Wow, someone was looking out for me.  So I texted home and said 'all is well, ran into snow, turning around, will be late'.  Or at least something to that affect.

OK, time to turn around

The climb down was difficult.  I again encountered the area where the 'social' trail deviated from the official trail and had to route-find my way back.  This time is was much more difficult to route-find.  I ended up making several 'downhill' moves that were dead-ends and had to return back up the way I came.  By this time the snow was wet, soggy, and I was getting tired.  But, I made it to Fern Lake and headed back down the hill in relative ease.  At least until I got back to the Pool.

Ah!  Mostly downhill from here

As I indicated, I had chosen to hike counter clockwise to avoid the most strenuous clime to be at the end of the hike.  Well by turning around, what did I get !?  The most strenuous climb was at the end of the hike and, because of snow and route-finding, I was much more tired that I wanted to be.  But I climbed, rested, climbed, rested until I finally made it back to the ridge top and then it was only three miles downhill to the truck.

Back at the truck all was well, I felt exhausted but glad I had attempted the hike.  I will try again later on in the summer.

Overall Track Statistics for 

RMNP - Seven Lakes Loop (attempt #1)

 Length 16.291 miles

 Start Elevation - 8378.08 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 10398.85 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8192.72 feet

 Date of Hike - Jun 04, 2015

 Start Time - 08:13 AM

 End Time - 05:52 PM

 Total Duration -     9:39 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 4993.67 feet

 Total Descent - 5179.04 feet

 Net Ascent - -185.37 feet

 Maximum Grade - 29.73%

 Average Speed -  2.48 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 748.65 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  4.80 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 13.60%