My friend, his two grandsons and myself decided to do a hike that was both shorter in distance and also one that was "easy". We decided on the Ute trail, one way. We were dropped off at Ute Crossing and picked up in Upper Beaver Meadows. So, we cheated a bit. I had never been on this trail in the summer. I had hiked up from Hidden Vallley, up the draw, then onto the road and on up to the Ute Crossing and then went in the general direction of the trail eventually coming down the vast slope (don't know the name of it) that funnels down to the road and on down to Hidden Valley in the winter. This time it was all trail. It started out windy and very cool on the tundra but by the time we reached Upper Beaver Meadows it was nice and warm. The first part was beautiful as it was all tundra which I enjoy. The next section was a steep down slope that was less than confortable with all the loose rock, no scree, just loose rock. The last stretch was filled with great trail but little scenery. All in all a great 3 1/2 hour hike. Good for a short day's hike. Some pictures are below. Oh yeah, we came upon a fellow Forums member about mid way. Never know who you wll run in to at RMNP!
This is the scene at the start of the hike. The clouds were coming in, actually there, when we started but seemed to stall right on the DIvide. To the far left in the distance is Chiefs Head, then Tatchtop, a bit of Otis, barely see Hallets, then Flattop and on over into the Odessa gorge area.
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Poor lighting and not a lot of time to take the picture but still decided to post this. The boys were enjoying a cool morning on the tundra.
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Again, poor lighting as I was basically looking into the sun but was somewhat protected by the trees below is Moraine Park. You can see the river, I think this is Big Thompson, streaming through. I suspect in a normal year the river woudl be far less dominating.
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