0
This topic is locked
Here is a link with our pictures:
http://www.docaltman.com/RMNP2006.html
Day 1:
Arrived at park, saw LOTS of elk, set up camp at Moraine Park (campsite 85---beautiful spot). Enjoyed views of Longs Peak from our site and had campfire and s'mores.
Day 2:
Plan---hike to Fern Falls and Fern Lake. The weather was very strange this morning, sunny, but with a constant drizzle/mist, and this would persisit throughout the morning, with showers later in the day. The hike to Fern Falls was nice, but being from MN, all of us were adjusting to the altitude a bit. Our 6-yr old wasn't having too much fun, so at Fern Falls, we decided that was enough of a hike for our first day, and headed back. There was a large bull elk standing about 10 feet off the trail on the way back. Rainy and cold in the evening!!!
Day 3:
Plan---hike to Mt. Chapin or Chiquita. However, the storms of the day before had produced a lot of snow!! We arose early, around 5:30, and were heading for FRR by about 6, only to find it closed. Plan B---drive up TRR and hike part of the Mt. Ida trail. We drove up TRR to Rainbow Curve, and it was closed from there! We could see why, and got a pic of the "road closed" sign, along with our original destination for the day (Mts. Chapin/Chiquita)---covered in snow! Ok, now to Plan C??? We're up, where should we hike? We were looking for somewhere that wasn't too far to drive, and chose Deer Mtn. It was a good hike for the day, quite a bit of "up", but some really nice views as a payoff. My daughter Gracie was throwing a fit about hiking with socks on (she wanted to be barefoot in her Crocs), and kept complaining about a tummyache until we let her take her socks off. Medical miracle----sock removal cures tummyaches!
We heard later that they opened TRR around 10:00 am, so we were very glad that we hadn't waited around for them to open it.We also went to the Backcountry Office to get our permit for the next 3 nights.
Day 4:
Plan---get all of our gear ready and hike into Glacier Gorge campsite. With 7 of us in our group, getting all our gear ready took some time. We were able to snag a parking spot at the GG Trailhead, and then took the next hour packing our packs! Alex and Grace each had small packs with just their clothes and raingear. Alex carried his the whole way, but after only 1/4 mile or so, I had to lash Gracie's pink princess one onto mine. Our youngest, Bella, enjoyed the easy life while my husband carried her and quite a bit of gear! Backpacking with the kids is really fun, but is definitely a bit challenging, too.
We were informed by someone at the trailhead that a mountain lion had killed an elk the day before at a trail junction, then a bear had moved in and started to feed on it, too, so rangers had come in and moved the carcass. We saw yellow tape strung in the trees at the GG/Bear Lake junction. I probably wouldn't think much about mountain lions if I didn't have young children, but this did remain on my mind for the rest of the trip. Does anyone else with young kids ever worry about this?
It was a beautiful hike into GG. We had been to Dream Lake and Lake Haiyaha last year, so we had been on part of the trail before, but not the trail up to Mills Lake and beyond. I'll never forget the view of GG that just opened up as we turned up the trail toward Mills Lake, it was unbelievable! The kids were faring ok, but getting rather tired, so we were happy to get to our campsite.
We set up, had supper, and then crossed the creek to a large rock outcropping, and laid there watching the sun set (it sets early in GG), but the last rays of sun lighting up Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds were just awesome! That is one view that I could never get enough of.
Day 5:
Plan---hike to Shelf and Solitude Lakes, possibly hike up Thatchtop. I know that some of you may now be thinking, "Are you crazy? With 3 young kids??!!"
Wellllll, this is where the "epic adventure" part of the trip comes in. We were up fairly early, and we found the "trail" fairly easily, thanks to great descriptions from others on the forum. To say the trail is steep is an understatement! It is also quite deceptive, in that we would think we were getting close, only to crest another rocky outcropping or ridge, and there would be more to climb. Kids were doing ok, Alex is pretty tough so wasn't having any troubles, Gracie was needing lots of gummy worms to help her out (and they do work, by the way!) My husband has a bit of mountain goat in his genetics, I think, as he wasn't having too much trouble while carrying Bella in the backpack.After about 2 hours, we finally (finally!) reached Shelf Lake! It was so beautiful! It was very chilly at the lake, but there was gorgeous blue sky, and the views were amazing. Alex thought the climb was worth it, Gracie wasn't so sure. Dave scrambled quickly up to Solitude Lake, took some pics, and then came down so that my mom, dad, Alex, and I could go up next. Dave and the girls found a large boulder to sit on, and named it the "Story Rock", as they sat there, took in the views, and told stories while they waited for us for an hour.
Alex, my mom, and I thought we would give Thatchtop a go. We climbed a little ways up the large boulders, and after my mom sent a large-t.v. size boulder rolling down the slope, decided that was far enough. We sat on a large flat boulder and contemplated life and the mountains for a few minutes, and thanked God for the amazing experience of being there. My dad, we later found out, scrambled part of the way up the Arrowhead, and said that was amazing.
After making our way back down to Shelf Lake, we began the arduous descent. On the way up, our route had been quite far to the right of the creek, but there were cairns marking part of the way. On the descent, we decided to stay closer to the creek, thinking that would be easier (ha!!) There were some rocky outcroppings we had to negotiate that had way too much exposure for me, especially with the kids (this is where I'm sure everyone is thinking, you people are crazy!) I was praying a lot at this point, but had to keep the fear under wraps, since we still had to get down.
The rest of the way, there were cairns here and there, and every so often, Dave would shout out, "I see a bootprint!" Honestly, this was not a fun part of the trip, and we were all intent just on making it down, over downed trees, backtracking to find ways that were at least somewhat safe. Poor Bella, she got hit in the head by branches more than once, and started saying over and over "I do not wike dat---go tampsite!!" (Those aren't typos---just 2-yr old language!)
I think my mom summed it up for all of us when she said, "This was beautiful and amazing, and I'm so glad that I did it, but I don't think I'd ever do it again." We wondered if Bella was the youngest to ever be at that lake, but then again, there are probably people crazier than we are! We didn't see any other people the entire day, until we got back to the main trail. We arrived back at our campsite, very tired, and content to have dinner, watch the last beautiful rays of the sun on Keyboard of the Winds, and fall into the tents.
Day 6:
Plan----hike to Black Lake, other lakes beyond???
On this day, my dad heard a weather forecast on the little radio he brought along saying that storms would be moving in by 2 pm, and then a cold day on Fri. Last year, we had the experience of packing up in an all-day rain, and it was pretty cold and miserable with the kids, so we decided to pack out a day early and get a hotel. My mom and I left our packs at the campsite and decided to still hike to Black Lake, while Dave, my dad, and the kids hiked out to the cars and found a place to stay for the night.
The hike to Black Lake was amazing! I am truly in love with the GG area of RMNP. The weather was still holding out well when we got to the lake, so we decided to go up beyond the lake, up to Blue Lake. Someone (I think maybe John?) had given some excellent route directions on the forum that I remembered as to the other lakes. We didn't think the weather looked good enough to go to Frozen and Green Lakes, but we did make it to Blue Lake. It was amazing to just stand there and be in awe of God's creation. We took pics, but tried to take more "mental photos" since we knew the digital ones wouldn't do it justice. Some clouds were moving in by this point, so we only stayed about 15 min., then headed down and hiked back to our campsite to grab our packs. By the time we reached Mills Lake, we could see some really dark, big clouds moving in over the Mummy Range, so we made quick time down the trail.
I was honestly amazed to see so many people headed up the trail at this time (around 1:00), and was guessing they hadn't really turned to look at what was coming up behind them. We were hearing thunder at this point, and as we passed a few families with babies in strollers coming up the trail, informed them of the incoming weather. They did turn around, thankfully, because just as we got the packs in the car, it started to rain, and we saw some lightning. We stopped at the Backcountry Office to let them know the site was open for the night, and then found the rest of the family at Castle Mountain Lodge. They called McGregor Mtn Lodge first, and thought that was full, gave them this recommendation. It was very nice! We had a 3 bdrm, 3 bath cabin, and they were nice enough to give us a fall rate. We all enjoyed a shower and a cold beer that night!
Day 7:
Original plan----hike into Goblins Forest site and stay for 2 nights. With the cold weather, the possibility of rain, and the kids being rather tired of hiking, we decided to change that plan and not camp anymore. We had to move hotels since Castle Mtn was full that night, and went to the American Wilderness Lodge, I think it was called. I would rate it just ok, but the kids loved it because it had a pool. We had a yummy breakfast at Molly B's, thanks to advice from the forums!
Since we hadn't been able to drive up OFRR a few days earlier, we decided to do that today, and it was beautiful, my first time up this road. Some of the aspens were turning, and looked golden in the sunlight. We had to stop for a potty stop for our 2-yr old, and when we got out, thought we'd hike up to a point. We later learned it was called Marmot Point, but we named it Mt. Julie, in honor of my grandma, who had just passed away a few days before we left on our trip. My mom said it reminded her of "The Sound of Music", so we did the obligatory singing of the song. After getting back to the cars, we visited the AVC, and drove to Grand Lake for some yummy ice cream.
On the way back, I suggested the Crater hike, but was loudly overruled by Alex and Gracie. I have a hard time not "doing" something each day, but every so often, it's good to be reminded that a fun day doesn't have to involve hiking (my kids do that for me!) We continued over TRR, and marveled at all the clouds rolling in. We had spectacular views of Longs "floating" on the clouds, and views of clouds rolling up Forest Canyon. It was beautiful in such a different way. By the time we got back down TRR, the temp in the van was reading 44 degrees, so that confirmed our decision not to be backpacking with the kids at that point!
Day 8:
Original plan----hike up to Chasm Lake. My mom and I decided to still do this hike, and got up at 5 am to head to the trailhead. Dave, my dad, and kids slept a little later, had another breakfast at Molly B's, and swam at the hotel while they waited for us.
Although EP was still in the clouds, once we got to the TH, we could see stars. The hike was beautiful, made even moreso for my mom and I, because we had started this hike last year, and turned around just past GF because we were in the rain and clouds, and didn't think we'd be able to see the lake, so we felt blessed on this morning to have incredible views. Twin Sisters appeared to be "floating" on clouds. There were a lot of people on the trail, and we were treated to an absolutely deep blue sky. Chasm Lake was very chilly, but gorgeous. We both wished for binoculars, because as we were sitting at the lake, we saw a few "glints" and reflections from a couple teeny tiny dots on the East Face of Longs Peak, so we watched a couple climbers make progress up the face. I'm amazed by people who do that, have total awe and admiration, but have no desire to do that myself! This was a wonderful hike.
We started back down the trail, and actually hiked into the clouds. I was very surprised by the number of people who told us they were heading for the summit of Longs---it was around 10:00 or 11:00 by this point, but the weather was beautiful, so maybe the got lucky.
We headed back to the motel, packed up, and started the long drive home. How is it possible that a week can go by so quickly? We had an amazing time, and said many prayers of thanks for such a beautiful and amazing trip. God blessed us greatly!
Becky
The photo at Forest Canyon with the clouds around you is really cool. 
