8 replies to this topic

[bjw741]

My wife and I will be arriving late Saturday (8/27) afternoon on our second trip to RMNP and will be staying thru Thursday.

Our first trip was the third week of Sep’09. On that trip, we hit it right at the peak of fall colors and the views were magnificent. It snowed overnight on our second night there and Trail Ridge Road was closed the rest of the time we were there. Because of the snow we also stayed below the tree line on all of our hikes on that first trip. We did a lot the recommended “first time” hikes on that trip (Emerald Lake, Mills Lake, Fern Falls-Cub Lake, Beirstadt Lake and Ouzel Falls) and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

This trip we want to get above the tree line and do a summit hike and take Trail Ridge Road to the west side of the park. We are planning on doing Flattop Mountain for our summit hike and to get above the tree line again with a hike to Chasm Lake.

We are looking for suggestions for a good ½ day hike on the west side of the park and any other recommendations for the east side.

Also wanted to find out if Old Fall River Road would be open while we were there.

Thanks.

[Rhonda]

Old Fall River Road should be open. The East Inlet trail is a good one on the west side, because you can choose your destination and come back whenever you want to. If you stay on it, you will get to Lone Pine Lake, Lake Verna, and several others. You are also likely to see moose on this trail in the meadow.

Another great hike, but it takes two vehicles, is to start at the Alpine Visitor Center at to top of Trail Ridge (across the road from it) and head down the Ute Trail to Milner Pass. It's a beautiful hike and downhill all the way.

Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsilon, or any one of them, is another great hike off of OFRR and you get wonderful views on both the east and west side.

[bjw741]

Thanks for the info Rhonda.

Glad to hear that OFRR is open. We for sure want to see it this trip.

I like the East Inlet trail recommendation. After doing a little more reading on it, it sounds like out kind of hike. Seeing moose would be an added bonus.

Can't wait to get there.

[foxfire]

Hi! If you do Flattop you should go on to Hallet Peak. It is only .5 of a mile further. Fantastic views with only a short scamble at the end. That is just 10 mile if you go back down the same way.

On Hallet (at the very peak) you can look west and see Grand Lake (the lake itself / not the village - GL village is just in the trees to the right of the lake) and look east and see Lake Estes. Very cool indeed. The trail on to Hallet is very easy but just be careful on the scramble as to not hurt a leg in the rocks / boulders on the last little bit of climb.

With good weather to proceed you "MUST" go on to Hallet Peak ( you are almost there) from Flattop! My Opinion!

Fox (Foxfire)

Have A Great Stay In Estes and Area!

Edited by foxfire, 23 August 2011 - 12:14 PM.

[MaizeEagle]

Our favorite west side hike is Parika Lake and Parika Peak. You should check into it. We have hiked it twice and love it. We have also done the East Inlet Trail. It is also a great hike. You can hit 3 lakes- Lone Pine, Verna, and Spirit and all 3 are fantastic. We've done that trail twice and have seen moose both times.
If the weather is good and you are going up OFRR, you should think about C-C-Y, or at least one of the three. It is an excellent, above treeline hike.

Have fun.

[mirak]

The Chasm and Hallett hikes are both excellent choices. I would also suggest Black Lake and above for an August hike. I haven't done much hiking on the west side, but I've always wanted to tackle the East Inlet Trail.

[bjw741]

Thanks all for the additional info and recommendations.

We definately had in mind to go on to Hallet Peak depending on how we were doing once we reached Flattop (we are flatlanders ya know )

Parika Lake looks like another excellent recomendation . . . so many good choices . . . its hard to decide.

On OFRR, I'm not familiar with the "C-C-Y" reference. Are these trails accessible from OFRR?

We hiked to Mills Lake on our last trip, so if we hike from the Glacier Gorge trailhead we'll probably take the right hand fork and go to Sky Pond rather than Black Lake. Some friends here in Tulsa highly recommend Sky Pond.

Just a day and a half left before we are on our way . . .

[DeeCeeM]

CCY stands for Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsilon mountains. All three summits are accessed from the Chapin Pass trail head on the upper part of Old Fall River Road. Be advised that if you want to tackle any of them, parking is limited. Word is get there early.

[bjw741]

Oh ya . . . Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsilon . . . Rhonda mentioned those in post #2 . . . if I'd have reread her post I might have figured it out, or not . . .

Thanks again for all the great responses.

I see several more RMNP trips in our future . . . since there are so many great hikes we won't have time for this time.