Once we decided to take our week of vacation here in Colorado it got very hectic. Since I would not be returning to TN as planned, poor Brian had to go to my house & try to assemble my backpack & hiking gear for me. Luckily I had organized most of the dehydrated food & my gear is limited to being mostly in one closet, but it was still difficult. Its very difficult to try to tell someone everything you think you may need over the phone. As well as where it may be. He did well, although it is a good thing the 'E has so much room!
Brian ended up driving the entire way in one very long day –
he arrived very late (or I guess it was really early!) on Sunday. We spent the
day in Fort Collins as I wanted him to acclimate a little. Plus I wanted to
take him on a few brewery tours & get some good green chile stew before we left!
Monday we headed out to RMNP.
We had already decided to car camp the 1st nite
in Aspenglen for further acclimation, but we made the Beaver Meadows Visitor
Center our first stop to check on backcountry sites. The Ranger was very helpful & asked us to
come back at noon as some hikers had not yet picked up their permit for one of
the best spots in the Park & they would be available to us if they didn’t
show by noon. We waited & sure enough got the permits for the next 3 nites
to do a loop at Andrews Creek, Sourdough & Mill Creek. Unfortunately there
was a reason these permits became available, but more on that later…..
We decided to spend the rest of the day sightseeing before
setting up camp & headed out Trail Ridge Road as I had been no further than
Forest Canyon. And I wasn’t going to be an further. See, the beautiful weather I had been
enjoying while on detail was over & a major snowstorm was predicted. Trail
Ridge was closed due to ice & snow by the time we got to Rainbow Curve & we had to turn
around. It was a sign of things to come!
And elk!
The next day we optimistically started out from Bear Lake by
way of Glacier Gorge towards Andrews Tarn Glacier). While the weather called for snow, we
were not overly worried as the worst was forecast for Thursday nite & we
expected to be a the lowest elevation backcountry site by then.
After about a mile we (as usual) began to climb. Around mile 3 we started
seeing a bit of snow on the ground, but nothing too extreme.
We came upon the Loch (or Lock Vale), which was a beautiful sub-alpine lake at a little over 10k feet in elevation.
We continued on & then it started snowing. Not just a few fluffy flakes to catch on your tongue. Really snowing.
After another mile (plus another half mile of backtracking) we found the side trail to Andrews Creek backcountry site. This is where the snow & ice was a little treacherous as we were walking on solid rock covered with ice & snow with no microspikes. Doh!
Finally we found the snow covered Andrews Creek site. I like the way the backcountry sites in RMNP are limited by number of groups instead of number of people. Each group gets a site whether they are one person or 4. We sure had plenty of room!
Then I had to go check out the privy. The Ranger had said it had a great view.
Not too shabby!
At this point I realized I was really cold & it was really snowing. The tent was being covered with snow & since you can’t have a fire in the backcountry here (because a few dumbasses have set the Park on fire before) I realized I was going to stay cold.
At this point Brian called it: we needed to head back down. Although we had the gear to stay out all nite, we did not have the gear to make it safely down the trail tomorrow if the snow continued. While I was disappointed I admit it was the right call. It felt like giving up but better to not take the chance.
Coming back down I was amazed at how much snow had accumulated since we had passed the Loch.
We came off the trail in the dark but found a cheap hotel
room in Estes Park & watched the Weather Channel to plan our next move. Figures
there was a record early snow this year!
For the remaining 2 days we decided to just car camp &
day hike so we could cover more miles. Trail Ridge Road remained closed our entire vacation but we found plenty to do on teh east side of the Park. We warmed up the 1st day with
a summit of Deer Mtn. A just over 10,000 feet, we again hiked into the snow!
But enjoyed some great views.
We stayed our 1st
nite at Longs Peak CG & it was a bit frosty, but at least we could have a
campfire to stay warm!
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| Brrrr..... |
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| Love the reflection in the rear window of the 'E |
Despite being the coldest & snowiest day, on Thursday we decided
to use the Park shuttle system & hike the Fern Lake – Bear Lake section. As
usual, we hiked up into alot of snow!
It was a bit blustery as we passed the Sourdough backcountry site, which is where our original permit had us staying this nite. I wasn't too unhappy at this point that we were car camping!
We started descending into the Odessa Gorge, which was just amazing. The air was so crisp & clear once the snow stopped.
Eventually we arrived at Odessa Lake – another beautiful subalpine lake:
We continued down & Brian got his first view of Fern
Lake:
From here it was an easy hike out – all downhill! I highly recommend the shuttle systems at RMNP as they really make it easy to cover some good trails without having to deal with the parking & traffic issues.
Our last dayhike was to take on a summit of Twin Sisters
Peak. Starting out at the trailhead we immediately began to climb as it seems
like every trail in the Park does. Lo of switchbacks! Luckily we had the great views of Longs Peak
to distract us:
In time we hiked out of the spruce-fir forest & into the
krummholz zone. “Krummholz” is a German word meaning twisted wood & is used
to describe the stunted growth of trees in the transition from forest to
tundra. The trees were eerily beautiful.
Once we got above treeline the views opened up & we
started hearing picas calling. We could also see where we were headed:
There are two peaks (hence the name Twin Sisters) & we chose the more popular East Sister as it is the highest at 11,428. There used to be a fire tower up here but all that is left are the concrete footers. The wind was whipping up high but I just had to summit the highest point. Here is my "seated summit" as I had a little too much vertigo to stand up straight!
It was a clear day & the views of Longs peak were great.
All in all it was a great week & I just can't wait to get back!
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