Best of 2014 hikes!

Better late than never, right?
Last year I wrote, "2013 has been a big year."  Here I was just about to start this the same way.  This year I obtained 100 new destinations in RMNP as well as 101 days mountain biking.  Unfortunately, my season was brought to an end by a crash on my mtb and the resultant shoulder injury.  I have to say it's been nice to spend some time relaxing and not feeling like I have to get outside.  It's nice to sleep in to whenever rather than hear the 4am alarm.  Yet my heart longs for the mountains, and I find myself much looking forward to 2015.Best high altitude lakes!
4.  Chasm Lake.  This lake lies in the bowl right below Longs Peak and provides astounding views of it and Mount Meeker, the second highest peak in the park.  It's a pretty popular lake and it's easy to see why when you get there.
3.  Snowdrift Lakes.  I am grouping these all together because they could all reasonably be visited in a day.  If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say Wonderland Lake.  These lakes are accessible from both sides of the park.  My guess is that you won't see anyone at them if you strive to make the journey.
2.  Lake of the Clouds.  It's fairly difficult to get to, but again, you will likely have this alpine lake all to yourself.  To the east find great views of RMNP.  Unlike most of the eastern side of RMNP, this area has alot of mining history, and it is still possible to see signs of human activity in many places.
1.  Rowe Lake.  Inexorably tied to the glacier that supplies much of it's water, Rowe Lake is the second highest named lake in the United States.  At 13100 feet, it is higher than many of the peaks in the park.  It is remote and it takes a big day to get there and back.  Even in late summer, the lake was still about half covered with ice.  A true beauty.
Best features!
4.  Castle Rock on Castle Mountain.  It's a short but steep jaunt up from the parking, but pretty scenery through large rounded boulders ala Lumpy Ridge.  Around the back find a gully that leads up to a short section of third to fourth class movement.  On top find great views of Estes Park, Lumpy Ridge, and the continental divide.
3.  Middle No Name.  One of three named but unranked peaks that stand at the end of the North Fork Drainage.  From below it looks pretty spectacular, from above it's a small high point on the tundra plains east of Rowe Mountain.  But it holds some pretty great views of the drainage.
2.  Black Pool.  This tiny body of water lies half a mile from the Fern Lake trail, which has to be one of the busiest trails in the park.  Despite that, it doesn't see much visitation as there is no trail to it, and getting there requires a creek crossing and a steep scramble up some loose terrain.  It is beautiful.
1.  Little Matterhorn.  The small highpoint lies east of the continental divide and can be accessed by a number of different approaches.  The one thing they all have in common is the absolutely fun and exposed third class scramble along the ridge to reach that highpoint.  I love stuff like this.
Best peaks!
4.  Snowdrift Peak.  This peak lies pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  The easiest access is probably to take the Flattop trail up, then loose some elevation before regaining the summit.  You can see forever from up here.  This also happened to be my halfway point in the park.  My ascent put me at 50% completion.
3.  Chiefs Head Peak.  Maybe it wasn't the peak itself (my second time atop it) but the method used to get there that made it stand out in my mind.  I started in Glacier Gorge and took the Chiefs Head/Pagoda couloir up.  It was a fun snow climb, with a cool peak at the top.
2.  Dundicking.  This is an unofficially named but ranked peak in the Mummy Range, and I walked right by it on a long day simply because it wasn't marked on the map I had.  Oddly enough, it is the only ranked peak on the entire ridge.  It took me two more tries to get here, and spring saw me taste some success.
1.  Static Peak.  This peak essentially marks the north western corner of RMNP, and the east ridge holds one of the funnest scrambles I have ever done.  Add to that the absolutely astounding views of the surrounding peaks, lakes, and valleys you have a must do in my opinion.
Best easier hikes!
4.  Lulu City.  This site lies a few miles north and not too many feet up from the Colorado River trail head.  I include this here not for what is still there, but for what was once there.  All along the trail you can see the remnants of mining operations that took place in the late 1800s.  Lulu City itself once had a population of 500.  It is hard to imagine that today, but fun to sit and think what things must have been like back then.  A great destination for families.
3.  Tombstone Ridge.  I took the hard way to get here, but you could start from Trail Ridge Road and hike a few miles with much less elevation gain than if you'd started from below to explore this rock feature.  Again, I could imagine children of a certain age having a ton of fun poking around up here.  Keep in mind the likelihood of afternoon thunderstorms and plan you visit accordingly.
2.  Kettle Tarn.  This small body of water is about five miles in, but there isn't much elevation gain to get here.  There used to be a NPS campsite here, but the flood seems to have taken that with it.  Cross the creek where you can to find this small lake.  Enjoy the quiet and solitude.
1.  Mount Ida.  Like last year, I have also included a more difficult east destination here.  The trail head starts high, so you gain treeline rather quickly.  Keep on the trail at your own pace to get to the summit of this peak.  Look down over Gorge Lakes and take a look at Trail Ridge Road across the valley.  Bighorn Sheep frequent this area- I saw more in one day than I have in my life combined.
Best epic days!
4.  Taylor Peak in winter.  This was quite a slog in snow.  I finally reached the summit and felt tired.  Going back was beyond difficult.  I had to stop quite frequently and rest as I headed back around Hallett Peak.  This was one of the days I think I was close to my breaking point.
3.  Longs Peak in winter.  The last day of winter saw me take down a unofficial goal.  I hadn't done the Keyhole Route before, but ready everything I could about the route.  In the end I made it to the top (and most importantly) back down safely.
2.  Mummy Kill.  Joined by a friend, we climbed 6 13ers and 2 12ers in one day.  This gave me a personal best for length of time hiking, as well as total elevation gained in one day.  The Mummy Range holds a very special place in my heart.
1.  Ni-chebe-chii part 1.  I started from the Colorado River trail head with some of the Never Summer peaks as goals for the day.  I ended up getting back to the car in complete darkness after spending 15.5 hours out and about.  Add nearly two hours of driving onto both sides of that.  I was beyond tired, but it was an incredible day.
Honorable mentions!
Favorite waterfall!
This isn't labelled on any map, but the waterfall from the exit of Ptarmigan Lake was certainly the most spectacular I saw all year.  It is not easy to get to.
Total mileage mountain biked in 2014:
1358.3 miles.
Total estimated mileage hiked in 2014:
369.5 miles.
Total estimated elevation gained hiking in 2014:
128,166 feet = 24.27 miles.
Number of new destinations obtained in RMNP in 2014:
100.
Number of new destinations obtained outside RMNP in 2014:
4.
Best photos of 2014 as chosen by an esteemed panel of judges:

Heading up towards Mount Lady Washington after a heavy spring snowfall.  Note the snowflake caught up close in midair.  Snowshoe madness!

A little guy accosted me for a snack on the Longs Peak Trail.  He was cute but got nothing.

Black Lake in Glacier Gorge.  This was one of my favorites as well.  It looks like it was created in Photoshop.

Otis, Hallett, and Flattop peer out from a storm on the divide as seen from Sprague Lake.

Alpine Sunflowers and Cracktop as seen from Mt. Julian.

I don't get many reflective lake photos since I don't want to sit there for hours waiting for that one minute of no wind.  Sometimes I get lucky though.  Hallett Peak as seen in Bear Lake.

A thin cloud caught in the Keyhole along the way to Longs Peak.

Pterospora, the most alien looking plant I have ever seen.  Captured on the North Boundary Trail.

The fun and exposed third class ridge of Static Peak. 

Looking along the North Inlet Trail as clouds build.  It looked bad and I ran back down to Bear Lake just in time to avoid the thunderstorms.

In the clouds on Tombstone Ridge.  
The next four photos were picked by all the judges.

Wind sculpted clouds as seen from Bierstadt Moraine.

Alpenglow strikes the Never Summer Mountains.

Hello?  Deer on Flattop Mountain.

I hiked up through clouds to capture this view down into Ptarmigan Gorge.  It was pretty cool to see the surrounding peaks poking up through the clouds.
I also wrote a somewhat differently styled year long wrap up on 14ers.com.  (click that to read it!)

Thank you for reading and your continued support throughout the year!  It is crazy to think that 2015 will see me (hopefully) near the end goal of hiking to every named destination in RMNP.  If all goes according to plan, I should wrap up in summer 2016.
In the meantime, I hope to see you out there!  Enjoy this majestic place!

Marguerite Falls, Black Pool, and Raspberry Park via Fern Lake th.

Last week I set out for several destinations that are all in close proximity to one of the busiest trails in the park, but all of which seem to get very little visitation.  For reference, I could find only one photo of Marguerite Falls online, and none of either Black Pool or Raspberry Park.  While Raspberry Park is a bit of a slog, Marguerite Falls sits no more than one tenth of a mile from Fern Lake, while Black Pool is a rather tenuous half a mile from the Fern Lake trail itself.  

Of course there is no trail to any of these destinations, but the mountains are about exploration, right?  Some effort can be rewarded by leaving the crowds behind and sitting at the base of a beautiful waterfall all by yourself.  Or enjoying a snack while sitting on a boulder overlooking what has to be one of the tiniest named bodies of water in the park. 

Early morning on the Fern Lake trail.
The first few miles are rather mellow, with very little elevation gain up until The Pool.  From here, things take a turn uphill.  The next thing you will come to is...

Fern Falls.  Which is a pretty cool waterfall that is right off the trail.  If you have the desire to go to Black Pool, you will head north when the Fern Lake trail makes the first switchback turn left- Fern Lake is located at the next switchback after that.

But before that, I came upon these ants on the trail.  Just sitting there in deep communication with each other.  I could even touch them with no reaction.  It was strange.

Fern Lake with Joe Mills Mountain on the left, Notchtop center, and Little Matterhorn (mostly in shade) to the right of that.
From here it is relatively easy to navigate down to Marguerite Falls.  Simply follow the exit creek from the lake.  It looked and seemed like there was a little bit of a social trail on either side of the creek, but that proved to not be true.  The bushwhack was on, and it does get a bit thick at times.

But the falls aren't that far away, certainly obtainable in fifteen to twenty minutes.  And of course, it is less of a waterfall and more of a cascade, but there you have it.  When facing downstream, I started on the right side of the creek and crossed to the left when I could.  It may be easier to just stay on the left. 

A little farther down.
I kept going down along the creek just in case that wasn't it, to make sure I'd been there.  But this was the only thing that looked remotely like a waterfall.  

I did come across the ruins of a small wooden cabin.  There was nothing left but boards and some very large nails.  In this photo, you can still see a stack of firewood that stood outside of it beginning in the lower left corner.
Rather than go back up from here, I simply oriented myself to the north/northwest, and went in that general direction until I hit the trail.  Movement became much easier, and I soon found myself at Fern Falls for the second time of the day.

Fern Falls, rainbow!
I followed the trail down until it took a sharp right, and then found a place to move down the steep and at times loose hill to Spruce Creek.  I crossed the creek atop a fallen log, and then made my way up a forested dirt and talus slope.  

It took me quite a bit of time to figure out I was looking at Gabletop and Castle Rock here.  

Fern Falls can be seen through the forest almost dead center here.
I found that I'd veered too far east, and was on top of the domed granite features to the east of point 9246.  You want to be on the bench between those areas.  So I traversed west until things flattened out.

I made my way up one final gully.  And....

Black Pool was sighted.  The name is fitting.  While the water is not quite black, it is definitely a darker hue reminiscent of the Cedar Water I fondly remember from my younger days in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.  The pool has no inlet or outlet, and the color comes from decaying vegetative matter in the lake.  There looked to be a thick layer of this black matter at the bottom of this tiny body of water.  It is maybe 2 feet deep in the center, and sports a few lily pads and a wealth of grasses around and in the lake.  

I had a snack sitting atop the rock bench on the right.  What an amazing and wonderful place to be.  

Reflections...

The only foot prints I could see were from Elk.

I walked around Black Pool, took it all in.  As I've often said, it is destinations such as this that my heart truly seeks.  I love just being out here in the middle of no where, seeing and hearing no sign of anyone else.
I headed northwest, paralleling the Big Thompson River up Forest Canyon.  As with my last experience here, travel got tough.  The bushwhacking is thick and steady, not only pushing through trees and chest high brush, but making your way over fallen trees, rock, and marsh.   

I occasionally stumbled over signs that at least someone else had once come this way.  I found a cairn here and there, though what trail they may have been marking is beyond me. 

I also found a bunch of old rusty cans from who knows when.  I couldn't see any markings on them, but it was interesting to still be able to see the tool marks from them being opened.

The one thing that may have made travel slightly easier was going through part of the Fern Lake fire area.  But moving through what was essentially charcoal left me absolutely filthy.  I was dirtier than I can ever remember being. 

More fire area.  The bushwhacking was less intense at times, but you can see that I was moving over talus!

I was looking at the topo to try to figure out how much farther I had to go.  I could see opposite where treeline was, and that looked like it was about where I should meet Lost Brook and find Raspberry Park.  I felt I would come to Lost Brook very soon, though I'd already passed a few small streams. 

I found two small creeks close to each other, both this one...

And this one. 

And this one looked to be big enough to be named.  Raspberry Park is so named for the tons of wild raspberry plants growing in the area.  Unfortunately, they were not yet in season!  Oh well. 
Though I thought I was there, again just to make sure, I kept going.  I made it out of the fire area and into the bush.  It was just as thick as I remembered.  About an hour later I hadn't hit another creek coming down from Stones Peak.  I decided that the creek I thought was Lost Brook, was indeed Lost Brook.  Back I went.

Back in the forest fire area, I looked for a place to take a quick dip in the Big Thompson.  Here I found a small eddy that looked deep enough to hold me.  In I went.  It was freezing, but the water felt good after sweating all day.
On the way back, I stayed a little bit higher up on Stones Peak.  This saw me hit some areas of 100% tree fall and have to deal with that, walk on talus that was quite loose and shifting under me at time, and still have some bushwhacking to do.  Then I started to see a cairn here and there and the faint outlines of a long ago trail.

In the name of exploration, I decided to follow the trail remnants for as long as I could.  In the end, it seemed to dissolve into nothing, though it was pretty well cairned for quite awhile.  But with no point a or point b, it is hard to call this a trail. 

It did take me by multiple wild strawberry plants.  And I ate heavily!  While tiny, they are so delicious.  They taste as if you'd shrunk a normal sized strawberry down and in the process, concentrated the flavors.  I will be on the look out for these in the future!
The trail ended up leading me to the west side of point 9249.  I decided it was easiest to avoid the steep slope to the south of point 9249 and just descended the more mellow drainage I was in.  Once I met Spruce Creek, I headed downhill for a little bit before finding another nice log to cross the creek on. 

I took this photo from below.  While I was trying to get a good one to give you some idea of where to go, it was difficult to do so through the forest.  But here see point 9249 on the left of the photo, behind the tree.  The granite domes are to the right.  So you'll want to aim between these to find Black Pool.

Along the trail on the way back, I looked up to see Windy Gulch Cascades.  Here is a view from the top.
Back at the car, I got unpacked and went back to the Big Thompson to scrub my hands off.  Even with that wash up, the rest of me was covered in soot, bug bites (I saw the largest mosquito of my life in Forest Canyon and briefly wondered if Pterodactyls weren't truly extinct), scratches, some of which were bleeding.  I bent both of my hiking poles.  Got a huge blister on my left pinky toe.  Forest Canyon will chew you up and spit you out.  It is one of the truly wild places in the park, with few signs of humanity, and no trails.  Thus, it is fairly difficult to navigate, but you are very likely to be the only person around.  Enjoy the peace and solitude brought by this magical place in the depths of nature.
Marguerite Falls, Black Pool, and Raspberry Park via Fern Lake th:
Marguerite Falls, 9420 feet: 3.9 miles one way, 1270 foot gain.  Moderate.
Black Pool, 9060 feet: 2.9 miles one way, 910* foot gain.  Moderate+.
Raspberry Park, 9000 feet: 4.1 miles one way, 850* foot gain.  Strenuous-.
Along the way, you will also pass:
Fern Lake, 9540 feet: 3.8 miles one way, 1390 foot gain.  Moderate.
Fern Falls, 8800 feet: 2.6 miles one way, 650 foot gain.  Moderate-.
The Pool, 8300 feet: 1.7 miles one way, 150 foot gain.  Easy.
Arch Rocks, 8220 feet: 1.2 miles one way, 70 foot gain.  Easy-. 
Hike total: 10.5 miles round trip, 2400 feet gross elevation gain.  Strenuous-. 
*= Though there is not much net gain to reach these places, there is some up and down along the way that will add a few hundred feet of elevation gain to these totals. 

Beaver Mountain via Beaver Meadows TH.

Well, it's summer (kinda).  Which means that instead of sitting inside writing, I've been outside enjoying Colorado.  Today was my sixth day on as far as some sort of physical exercise.  The past days have been climbing, mountain biking, hiking, weights, mountain biking, climbing and weights.  And just this morning I told my wife I wished I'd been able to ride more this week!

Long story short: I am behind two weeks now on writing up hikes in the park.  But here I am trying!

I set out for Beaver Mountain early on the morning of April 15th.  I got up just in time to catch the last little bit of the total lunar eclipse, got my stuff together, and made the drive up to Estes.

The Beaver Meadows TH was still closed, so I parked at one of the pullouts on 36 opposite the road to the TH.  I was feeling pretty tired, but I found the sights as the sun rose to be quite invigorating.

The moon sets over some of the higher peaks on the continental divide.

First sunlight of the day.

I used to hate getting up early. 

Not that I love it now.

But these views make it all worthwhile.

So beautiful!
When I was up here the week before, most of the lower elevation snow was melted completely.  A storm the day before left me eight inches or so to deal with in the start.  The snowshoes were on for most of the day.
I followed the trail for a short amount of time before just breaking out straight for the high point.  It turns out the high point you can see from below is not the true high point of the mountain.

I slowly gained elevation and was here rewarded with an interesting view of Deer Mountain.

It's still winter up here, but the day grew quite warm.  I think the highest temperature I saw was around fifty degrees.  Which means that heavy, slushy spring snow that sticks to everything.
Eventually I reached a summit plateau.

Was this the summit?

Or this, which looked like a man made cairn?

In the end, both of those points were lower than this mound of snow.  There may be a cairn under there somewhere, but I sure didn't find it on this day. 

Mummy Range as seen from near the summit.

Tombstone Ridge.  This was also on the list for the day.  I dropped down to the Ute Trail, moving carefully.
Once I reached the bottom, I started up.  The going was very difficult to say the least.  I already knew I wouldn't see the top since I'd hit my hard turn around time well before I got there, but I was up here already so I just went for it. 

This is the view I had from the place I finally turned back.  All day I kept seeing those wind sculpted clouds and felt glad I was down in the trees.

Chasm View was another possible destination on this day.  I'm glad I didn't go for that.  I could see the wind really ripping up there.
It felt like it took me only ten minutes to go down what it took me an hour to go up, and I passed the place where I joined the Ute Trail.  From then I was on my own.

Until I found this NPS sign.  At least I was going the right way!

Standing at the top of Windy Gulch Cascades. 

A wintery wonderland, though the snow is melting fast at lower altitudes and on southern exposures.

On the way back I passed a few interesting rock formations, like this balanced rock.

And managed to stay mostly on the trail somehow.

Looking up towards Beaver Mountain from near the trail head.  I didn't even know I was on the correct trail until I started to notice someone elses snowshoe prints, and then realized they were mine.

The higher peaks remained swaddled in blown snow.  Again, I was happy I stayed low.

Deer Mountain.

Tombstone Ridge behind Beaver Mountain.
I got back to the car and took a few minutes to relax before starting the drive back down.  The snow conditions in addition to the relative steepness of the hike made this a pretty difficult day over all.  It would have been easier in colder weather and light powder, or in warmer weather and no snow at all.  But so it goes.  In any season this is a fun minor peak to do and it probably doesn't get a whole bunch of traffic.  
Beaver Mountain via Beaver Meadows th:
2.6 miles one way, 2051 foot gain (8440-10491).  Second class.  Strenuous- (easier in summer).
Windy Gulch Cascades:
2 miles one way,  836 foot gain (8440-9276).  Moderate.
Note that starting from 36 adds on 1.3 miles each way.  
Windy Gulch Cascades marked my 199th named destination in RMNP.  What would be number 200?  Stay tuned....