Weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park

Boulder and the surrounding area seems to be very secretive about camping spots. Without any insider information about the hidden gems, back in April I made plans to take a backpacking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park. Aside from the administrative hassles you have to deal with when you're working with the National Park Service - permit reservations, processing fees, required bear canister, apparently having to pick up your permit by 10am (oops! we lucked out with our late arrival this time) - backpacking in Rocky Mountain is pretty awesome.

We planned to start at Bear Lake and hike about 5 miles down to Odessa Lake on Friday night, but the ranger told us that this year's record snowfall made it difficult to get through. So instead, we parked Gladys at the Fern Lake trailhead.

Day 1 Route

There was some snowpack when we got up closer to the lake, which sits at just over 10,000 feet, but the hike wasn't overly strenuous, even in the drizzly weather. It's hard to get a permit for Odessa Lake - when I reserved back in April, every Saturday night for the entire summer was booked. But it was worth it to have one of just two sites situated right next to the beautiful alpine lake, with a stunning view of Notchtop Mountain reflecting off the water.



View of Odessa Lake from the site, Notchtop Mtn to the right



It was a chilly night, but very comfortable for sleeping in a tent with a good sleeping pad and bag (mine is rated for 30F, and I was toasty). After cooking some breakfast on my trusty MSR Superfly, we hit the trail. Against the advice of the [overly cautious] ranger at the backcountry office, we decided to try for Bear Lake, or at least Lake Helene. About halfway to Lake Helene, we had crossed a couple of wide snow fields, and we ran into another hiker who came down from Bear Lake. The former park ranger warned us of one snow field and a dangerous chute between us and Lake Helene.



Day 2 route



It turns out the chute was pretty dangerous. We walked across a very steep slope of soft snow. As I approached a tree in the middle, I was just getting my right foot on the trunk when my left foot sunk into the snow. It took a minute of assessment with one leg above my head and most of my body buried under the huge drift, but I managed to scoot myself up and hurry across the rest of the chute, avoiding death. The rest of the hike to Lake Helene was pretty easy and uneventful, although we managed to lose the trail in the snow a few times.



After making it through the worst of the hike







Lake Helene



Bear Lake was a little disappointing, with so many tourists. And after having spent some time isolated in the woods, the sight of a busy parking lot was a little disconcerting. We decided to hike up to Bierstadt Lake for lunch to get away from the crowds (after snacking on some of our ridiculously addictive trail mix, recipe to come). Bierstadt Lake was absolutely beautiful and turned out to be a great spot to spend some time relaxing. It's only about 2 miles from Bear Lake, so we weren't in isolation, but there were significantly fewer people (and screaming little kids).



Bierstadt Lake

After hanging out for a little while, we hiked up to our site at Upper Mill Creek Basin and spent the afternoon poking around the area, exploring the creek, and relaxing at the campsite. The scenery was a lot different that at Odessa Lake, but it was very cool to camp right next to the creek and hear the rushing water at night.

Mill Creek

After a long, refreshing night's sleep, we headed back to the Fern Lake trailhead to reunite with Gladys. We hiked up past Cub Lake then along a surprisingly swift winding river through a meadow. We ascended for a while coming out of Mill Creek Basin, but other than that the trail was mostly flat and very scenic.



Day 3 Route



Cub Lake



We were back to Gladys by 10:30am, so we were back in Boulder in time to have brunch at the Walnut Cafe and I even had time and energy to go for a nice trail run in the evening (and got caught in a sweet lightning storm!).

Nothing too epic, but all in all, a very solid weekend!



Our EPIC 4th of July Weekend

Michelle and I are always complaining to each other about how we can't possibly get all the things we want to do done with our pesky work schedules taking up 40 hours of our week. So when a three day weekend rolled around for the 4th of July, we made sure to take advantage. We considered doing a longer trip like Yellowstone or Sand Dunes National Parks but we didn't want to miss the whole weekend in Boulder so we decided to stick around and play it by ear. We ended up having the most perfect weekend ever that included every one of our 15,000 awesome hobbies. Here is a quick list of what we did, followed by a far more detailed account:

• Camped @ Lost Lake in Indian Peak Wilderness
• Long bike ride near Boulder
• Camping on South Platte in Pike's National Forest
• Trail running on the Colorado Trail
• Potluck dinner and camping on our friend's back porch
• 14 mi. hike in RMNP to Thunder Lake
• 4th of July BBQ and fireworks on previously mentioned porch

Friday: We left work a little early and headed out west with our friends Rob and Julianna toward Nederland (an awesome mountain town west of Boulder) and Indian Peak Wilderness. This drive from Boulder is absolutely beautiful, the weather was perfect, and we were riding in Rob's open air Jeep. Our destination was a backcountry campground on a tiny little lake right at the edge of Indian Peak Wilderness. In the picture below, appropriately named Lost Lake is the little blue blob on the left in the middle of nowhere. Directions: Driving through Nederland, follow Eldora Ave (County Hwy 130) which turns into Hessie Rd (unpaved). If the conditions aren't unseasonably wet, the road will continue past a first parking lot, some creepy old abandoned cottages, and then bring you to a small parking spot at the edge of a river. However, if you, like us, find that the dirt road you were following has become a full on river; and if you, unlike us, are driving anything other than a Jeep, I suggest parking at that first lot you come to and walking the rest of the ~2.5 miles to the campsite. As luck would have it, we were in a jeep and so decided to forge ahead: the rest of the night continued about as epically:

• Julianna put on her wetsuit and unhooked Rob's fishing hook from the bottom of the Lake, resulting in him catching a fish, which I gutted, and Michelle cooked = T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.
• We ate our big pot of mac 'n cheese (made with boiled creek water) on a big rock in the middle of the lake while watching a perfectly picturesque sunset
• We (Michelle) made a raging fire and cooked too many s'mores on perfectly widdled marshmallow sticks that we found
• Right before bed, the stars came out and caused this really cool reflection effect off the of the lake such that you felt like you were standing in space
• We went to bed, didn't get eaten by bears, and made delicious s'more pancakes for breakfast before heading back to the Jeep and riding up and down the river 3-4 more times. (believe me, it didn't get old.)

Saturday: After getting back from camping, Michelle and I went on a beautiful bike ride (~40 mi) around Boulder (route to the right) We then hopped into Gladys (still full of all the essential camping gear from the previous night) and headed down to Pike's National Forest to meet up with my co-worker Brendan who was going to be running on the Colorado Trail with his buddy Aaron the next day. As most of our drives seem to be, this one was gorgeous. We were driving right alongside an AMAZING lazy river for about an hour of the 2 hour drive and ended up camping right beside it. I emphasize the word "amazing" because it was actually the only thing we talked about for the whole drive and that whole night at the campsite (Spruce Grove in Florissant). Also, we later found out that the river was called South Platte and we there was nowhere nearby to rent kayaks to float down it because it was unseasonably high and would normally be good for nothing but fly fishing.



Colorado Trail

Sunday: We woke up early Sunday morning after a disappointingly cold sleep, ate a quick Clif Bar breakfast and drive about 45 minutes north to the Kenosha Pass trailhead of the Colorado Trail. Brendan and Aaron are ultra runners and were planning on a 6 hour run, but we were gonna be happy with 1-2. The trail was beautiful, scenic, winding, and not too hilly. In short, everything you could possibly hope for out of a perfect trail run. I used to think they were crazy but after that run, I totally get why you would want to have to endurance to keep going on and on for hours on end. Alas, at altitude (~10,000 ft) and without said endurance, we turned around after about an hour. By the time we got back to the car, any bit of energy our Clif Bars has afforded us was long since depleted and we were STARVING. We stopped at the first general store we saw to buy Gatorade and snacks and to ask where to nearest greasy diner was. Forty minutes later, we were happily seated on the patio of the Cutthroat Cafe in Bailey, CO awaiting our "Reel Deal" breakfast specials (a heaping plate of homefries, sausage, bacon, ham, eggs, and cheese piled on top of one another). One lesson we have learned and will write about in more detail later: diners never disappoint. We drove back to our horrible apartment in Boulder, full and happy (happiness diminished as time in the apartment increased and fullness decreased). Knowing that we couldn't maintain our good moods for very long while in that place, we made plans to go over to our friends' Rob and Rudy's house. A bunch of other people from the CU triathlon team showed up and we had a potluck dinner of sorts and about five of us slept on their back porch. It was odd, but sleeping on a nice, clean porch felt like an upgrade from the usual accomodations.



Please, you couldn't say no either.



Monday (the 4th!): Anybody that had not slept over showed up at Rob and Rudy's early in the morning and 10 of us piled in to two cars (naturally, Gladys and her annual national parks pass was one them) and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. Starting at the Wild Basin trailhead, we headed up toward Thunder Lake. Three hours later, and 2-3 miles away from our destination, we hit snow. After losing the trail, blazing our own in inadequate sneakers (and even sandals!), and sustaining a few injuries, we finally arrived at Thunder Lake. A few pictures and some deep contemplative thoughts about the beauty of nature later, we turned around to head back to the cars. When we got to the bottom, we could not get back to Rob and Rudy's grill fast enough. Michelle and I went home quickly to change (yes! we actually wore the dresses that have been in the back of our closet all summer) and to retrieve the amazing cookie cake we had bought at King Soopers (it was completely covered in american flag icing, we couldn't resist!). A few more non-hikers joined us for the bbq and everybody had a great time. We ended the night by climbing on to the roof to watch the fireworks and then having a dance party (read: a watch-Rudy-put-on-his-air-force-ones-and-expend-ridiculous-amounts-of-energy-bouncing-around party) on the porch. For me, and I think for Michelle too, this weekend truly revealed to us how many amazing things there are to do in the area. We realized that the only way we could possibly be satisfied with our Boulder experience would be if we had at least a month in which we had NOTHING to do except explore hiking trails, go for bike rides, camp in cool places, and find amazing trail runs. Enter: the minivan plan.



Thunder Lake, RMNP