Rocky Mountain High

Hi Blog! Today is Saturday, September 19, 2015. Our time in the Rocky Mountains is winding down. We wanted to make sure we did at least one alpine hike before we left. We decided to hike the Ute Trail. The Ute tribe crossed the Rocky Mountains at Forest Canyon Pass and marked their route with stone cairns. The present park Ute Trail follows part of that ancient route. Rather than start at the top and work our way down and then back up again, we opted to start at the lowest point - Milner Pass. The elevation at the start of our hike was 10,758 feet above sea level. Here is Kathy at the trailhead. That is Poudre Lake in the background.  It is the source of the Cache la Poudre River that we talk about below.

As we hike up from Poudre Lake, we pass the Poudre Spires. We would have loved to climb up closer to these really unusual rock formations, but the Park Service had the area closed for restoration. It is tough to be so loved by so many park visitors.



We were very impressed with all the trail work. Having all these stairs made it easy to climb up into the alpine area.

The first part of the hike was mostly through spruce forest. The higher we hiked, the more the landscape opened. The higher meadows have already started turning gold.

In two miles, we put the forest behind us and began our tundra walk. We passed a number of tarns. The western drought has not be kind to the Rocky Mountains. Several of the tarns had dried up. We could almost get the reflection of this beautiful unnamed peak in the lake.

We made it to Forest Canyon Pass, which you will remember is the pass the Utes used through this area. The elevation was 11,320 feet above sea level:  a gain so far of 562 feet for us.  We only had one more mile to reach the Visitor's Center, which lies at 11,796 feet.  Once we reached the visitor center, our total climb would be about 1,038 feet.

We only wish we could share with you the vastness that we hiked through. While the pictures are amazing, they only hint at the immensity of the entire experience.

Once you reach the alpine zone, there is nothing much to interfere with your view. We could actually see our trail stretch out for almost two miles.  In the background, you can see the Never Summer Mountains, some of which received their first snow of the year only two nights before our hike.

For this vantage point, we could look down on the Cache la Poudre River Valley. The name of the river means "hide the powder" in French. It refers to an incident in the 1820s when French trappers, caught by a snowstorm, were forced to bury part of their gunpowder along the banks of the river.

We reached the Alpine Visitor's Center just in time to meet the lunchtime crowd. We were lucky enough to get a table and enjoy some hot soup. Unfortunately, because of the drought and diminishing well water supplies, the Cafe had to ration water. They were not able to provide fountain sodas or hot chocolate. You could only buy bottled water and juice. However, that didn't stop us from enjoying our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We bought several bottles of water and refilled our camelbacks for the trek back down the mountain.

Once back on the trail, we met a few more hikers coming up. They told us to keep an eye out for the marmots sunning themselves on the rocks next to the trail. Eagle Eye Dave was able to spot this little fellow. We named him Baxter Junior. It may have something to do with his size and the lazy way he lounged upon his rock.

As the afternoon wore on, the clouds began to roll in along with a very brisk wind. Luckily, we had packed just about every piece of winter clothing you could imagine, so we were nice and toasty.  The afternoon sky was brilliant blue and brought out all the colors, while large white clouds scudded across the sky and sent rolling shadows sailing across the landscape to add motion and depth to the landscape.

Over the years, we've heard members of our hiking club complain that they don't like out-and-back hikes. "They're too boring."  "You pass the same stuff twice."  We, on the other hand, have never found that to be the case, for at least two reasons. First, the things you see ahead of you coming back are not the things you see ahead of you going out.  And, second, for us, an out-and-back hike gives us a chance to see things we didn't notice the first time, or to look at the things we had seen before, but in a new light. For example, we walked right passed this view of Forest Canyon on the way up and didn't even notice it; but, on the way back down, the canyon beckoned to us with its grand spaces:

Once we left the higher elevations, the trees began to reappear. It wasn't long before we took off our hats, gloves and jackets.

We soon found ourselves at the trailhead. Time to drive back to camp. No sooner did we get started than we encountered horrible traffic. It was creepy crawly, creepy crawly, all the way back to the park entrance. At one point the traffic came to a complete standstill. You guessed it - ELK JAM!

Tomorrow is our last day in Rocky Mountain Park. We have one more chance to hike one more trail. Stay tuned!