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. 

Castle Rock, Gable Gate, Primrose Pond, and Loomis Lake.

*A later edit...  Every time I mention "The Gable" in this post, I am actually talking about Gable Gate.  I did not know at the time that these were two separate things, and Fosters book doesn't give a goo distinction.  Gable Gate is easier and higher- it is the true high point at the end of the ridge.  The Gable is lower and more difficult (4th class).  It is not the high point at the end of the ridge.

With the typical summer weather of Colorado arriving, we're now contemplating even earlier wake up times for the high altitude days.  The trouble with this for myself being that I work on Monday evenings, and the earliest I can reasonably get to bed is 11pm.  Last week proved that the early wake ups after just a few hours of sleep don't do it for me.  

So we settled on something a little less high, but still bushwhacky and scrambly at times.  I tried to get up to Loomis Lake in March, but turned back in thick forest and waist deep snow on steep slopes.  Now it is all melted and time time has come.

Fern Falls.  Last time I was here, it was frozen.

It was quite a bit easier to get to Spruce Lake now that there was a trail the whole way.  Castle Rock on the right and Gabletop center.
There is a trail, albeit faint, that heads up along the creek running down from Loomis Lake and Primrose Pond. 

A small and scenic water fall along the way up. 

Things level out a bit, and you happen upon Primrose Pond.  The trail goes right next to it.
We had planned to first reach Loomis Lake, and then set out for Castle Rock, then The Gable, then make our way back to Primrose Pond or pick up the trail at some point between it and Spruce Lake.  But we noticed Loomis Lake was somewhat below us, so we decided to just head up to Castle Rock directly, rather than loose and regain that elevation.

Bushwhacking up the slope brought us to a ridge, with some exposure to the north.  We simply followed this ridge along until we reached the high point.  And yes, it is only class 2 despite the looks from below.

Some notable names in the summit register. According to it, we were the first two here in 2013.

And this...

Someones summit register from 1951!  Though I feel if this stays up here, it will certainly continue to degrade.  It should be taken and given to the park for preservation. 

This high point on the ridge offered some great views, here of Spruce Lake with Mt. Wuh and Steep Mountain in the background.

Looking across to the ridge that holds The Gable.  It was hard to tell exactly what the high point was, and I am pretty sure it is off camera left in this photo.

The ridge extends from Gabletop Mountain, here seen over Loomis Lake.

Stones Peak.

Back west along the ridge we'd taken.

North.

And more fun exposure.
We did see a few cairns up here, and took a different route down attempting to follow them.  Of course we lost them and just ended up descending.  It looked like we were going to end up back at Primrose Pond and then head up the The Gable before heading back down to Loomis Lake, but we decided to just contour a bit west when descending and hit the lake first.

A cool point over the lake.

Back up the ridge to Castle Rock.
I have long wanted to jump in for a swim in one of these high lakes.  I was thinking this might be the day, as there was a spot that looked deep enough for me to actually jump in.  In the end I wimped out, and just stuck my feet it.  They almost instantly went numb, but the cold water felt good.
Dan started nodding off as I took in the sights and a snapped a few more photos. 

Wildflowers next to Loomis Lake.
We were discussing ascent routes, and spied a few possibilities.  This gully was closest to us, and though it looked a little bit loose, everything did.  So we went for it. 

Up from Loomis Lake.

Well, it worked out fine.  We just spread out to avoid kicking stuff down on each other. 

Near the top of the gully, Castle Rock is hard to pick out with the background.

North to the Mummies.

Dan stops to put on gaiters for bushwhacking protection.
The way to The Gable is heavily krumholtzed, and there is no way to avoid it.  Just push through.  Much to our surprise, as we got closer we noticed three people on top.

Little Matterhorn.
We met them as they were descending the talus pile that surrounds The Gable.  They were heading on to Gabletop.  Conditions looked good for an ascent.

At The Gable, south to Joe Mills Mountain, Half Mountain, and Longs beyond.

Odessa Lake below us.  Looks alot different than the last time we were here and it was still half iced over.

We went out to a lower but wider point and ate.  Here I'm looking back at the high point and the ridge extending west.

Spectacular scenery.

The views of Fern Lake partially obscured.
We decided to take a more direct route down the slope to arrive back at Spruce Lake.  It was bushwhacky and loose, but probably no more so than going back to one of the gullies. 

We eventually made it back to Spruce Lake, had a snack, and for the second time in the day I dunked my feet in for a cool down. 

Castle Rock over Spruce Lake.

Here fishy fishy.  My feet must have smelled like a fish buffet, as several of them came around and circled right in front of us. 

Yum.
At Spruce Lake, we each put in a guess on how many people we would see on our way back to the trail head.  Dan said 50, I said 75.  We got to 60 by the time we reached The Pool, and stopped counting.  Obviously, we were both going to be under.
We got back to a now crowded parking area 8.5 hours after we left the car.  The drive back was the normal Estes Park and 36 in summer.
For an added bonus, I went mountain biking the next day and was able to obtain the summit of Button Rock mountain, giving me three peaks on the week.  Not too bad.
While shorter, this hike does entail some heavy bushwhacking, route finding, a fair amount of elevation gain, and a bit of scrambling.  Be prepared!
Castle Rock, The Gable, Primrose Pond, and Loomis Lake:
To string these all together gave us an estimated 13 miles and 3300 feet of gain for a strenuous- hike.
Primrose Pond: 5.4 miles one way, 1990 foot gain (8150-10140).  Moderate+.
Loomis Lake: 5.6 miles one way, 2070 foot gain (8150-10220).  Moderate+.
Castle Rock: 5.7 miles one way, 2490 foot gain (8150-10640+).  Second class.  Moderate+. 
The Gable: 5.8 miles one way, 2890 foot gain (8150-11040+).  Second class.  Strenuous-.
Along the way you will also pass:
Spruce Lake: 4.8 miles one way, 1510 foot gain (8150-9660).  Moderate.
Fern Lake: 3.8 miles one way, 1390 foot gain (8150-9540).  Moderate.
Fern Falls: 2.6 miles one way, 650 foot gain (8150-8800).  Moderate-.
The Pool: 1.7 miles one way, 150 foot gain (8150-8300).  Easy.
Arch Rocks: 1.2 miles one way, 70 foot gain (8150-8220).  Easy-.
For added bonus the next day:
Button Rock Mountain: 4.5ish miles one way, 1095 foot gain (7350-8445).  Moderate.