Isolation Peak, Fleur de Lis, Mount Craig,and Ten Lake Park from Wild Basin.

After a several year hiatus from Wild Basin, this year has marked a return to the place where it all started.  Earlier in the year, I decided to "run" Isolation Peak in preparation for the race.  While I say run, it was really more of a fast hike, particularly with the off trail time after Bluebird Lake.

It was a rather pleasant and peaceful day, and it was awesome to revisit the area that captured my imagination years ago.  A return to the memory of some big and fun days.

It was several years later on a pretty big day with Dan that I finally got to see the west side of Isolation Peak.  Like many others, it was interesting to get a different perspective on the mountains I was so familiar with from the east.  And that west ridge looked extremely fun!  

With other goals and wants, a return has taken a few years, but another friend proposed a long and adventurous route to visit Fleur de Lis and Mount Craig.  We'd start and end at the Wild Basin trail head, going up and over Isolation, taking the west ridge out and back, with a brief drop down into Ten Lake Park.  My kind of day, it took zero arm twisting to get out for these repeats!

We met and started just as the sun was rising, headlamps not needed, but brought along just in case.  Dave beat me to the trail head by a few minutes, and said one person had started before us, though we never did see them.  In fact, the only people we saw the whole day (besides each other), was a couple near Bluebird Lake who had camped at the site close to there.

Bluebird Lake, Ouzel Peak.
With my visit earlier in the year, it was pretty easy to follow the cairned social trail around Bluebird Lake and to the bench above Lark Pond and Pipit Lake.  There's some bushy stuff in this area, but it's generally easy to avoid.
We stopped at the beautiful and isolated Isolation Lake for a snack and water.  While there were possibilities on the other side, this was the last definite water we'd come across for a long time-possibly until we made the return trip and went by this lake again.
We started up the scree slope towards Isolation.

Somewhere up there, Mahana Peak and Copeland Mountain behind.
We made it to the summit of Isolation relatively easily.  There aren't any technical difficulties along the way, it's just the gain to get there.

Dave on the summit.
He'd copied and brought the route description from Lisa Fosters book along.  This suggested staying on the ridge direct as fourth class at the easiest, with multiple towers to go around.  With this in mind, we decided to drop down a little and contour around, staying at around 12700 feet.  The terrain was pretty manageable, with just a touch of loose stuff here and there. 

Looking back towards Isolation and those deep blue skies that only seem to happen in September.

Copeland Mountain.
We reached a flatter section and headed north to meet the ridge, which was outstandingly fun third class.

Dave descending the ridge.
This ridge was pretty awesome, with fun and engaging route finding.  As we kept remarking, we'd yet to hit any real difficulties, and the day was going swimmingly.
On the way out, we bypassed the small lump west of the ridge at around 12200 feet on the south side.  On the way back we stayed up higher on it and it was fine either way.
We crossed a small social trail at the saddle between Isolation and Fleur de Lis, then started up.  Though this peak is second class, the easiest approach is from the west side, and we found a little bit of scrambling to get to the top.

Looking back at Isolation.
We continued on to Mount Craig.  From previous experience, I knew we should stay to the south of point 11902, as it's scrambly and difficult to go over.  On the other side, we took what was probably not the best route up.  This was probably the hardest few moves of scrambling of the day, or so I felt.  But it was short, and we were soon back on tundra.

Looking back from near Mount Craig. 

Right near the summit.
Well, it's probably easier to get Fleur de Lis and Mount Craig from the west, but I wouldn't say that day is "easy".  I do vividly remember my previous visit, with friend and oft hiking/running partner Dan.  Near the end of the day, he told me (I *think* in jest) that if we'd done the loop we did in reverse, he would've never spoken to me again.  At the very least, that would've made for an awkward ride home.
But here Dave and I were at our furthest point out.  Now all we had to do was turn around.  And go all the way back.  We decided to drop down into Ten Lake Park and take a promising looking gully up, and skirt around Isolation.  (Now that I'm writing this a few weeks later, I think that was the intention here.)

Beauty.  Of course, just as we were wondering aloud how long it had been since someone had been there, I found a German made Swiss Army style knife on the ground.  It had been out for awhile, but at least we can say people sometimes come here.  And I again learned the hard lesson that when water is getting lowish and the next definite source is a good bit away, you should fill up.  Figured I'd know that now, and I never seem to do it.  Ah well, not having water for an hour didn't kill me!

Now looking back on Mount Craig.  What an awesome day!
We were both getting tired, and as we got back towards the west ridge of Isolation, made the choice to just go back the way we'd come, but to possibly stay on the ridge the entire way.  Fosters book calls this fourth class and talks about bypassing towers to stay direct on the ridge.
I felt and we talked after that we both felt this ridge was no more than third class, and we didn't find any towers to bypass.  So I'm not sure where her description came from.  Sure, there's some route finding, but it's pretty easy to stay right on top.  "Easy".
We made it back to Isolation, and ended up meeting the south ridge maybe forty vertical feet below the summit.  Since I have a sick desire to visit isolated peaks multiple times in the same day from different trailheads/directions/whatever, I climbed back to the top while Dave descended and waited for me. 

The same view as earlier, hours later.  Different and just as spectacular.

The south ridge in the afternoon.
We descended back to Isolation Lake, where we were both happy to filter and drink some water and eat some food.  Though we were still a good distance from the trailhead, there was finally some sense of being almost done, at least for me.  There were no more major elevation gains, and while there was still some off trail time, we were past the hardest and talusyest terrain.  Soon we'd have a trail, and from there we could just motor on down.
We wanted to see how far we could make it without headlamps, but it wasn't much beyond Bluebird Lake.  Ah well!
Now with food and water in us, we enjoyed some conversation on the way back.  I think we were both suffering a bit for various reasons going back up over Isolation.  But we identified the problems, corrected them, and got over it.
I generally like my work schedule and love my job, but after days like this I wish I had more weekend time available.  This was my second time hiking with Dave this year, and what awesome days they've been with a more experienced partner.  It's been particularly nice to hike or run with some new people this year, and to find some other kindred spirits out there.
We got back to the trailhead and got situated before saying our farewells.  At least this time it was me who had the shorter drive home, I was definitely tired!
While this day was all repeats for me, I certainly had an awesome time going along.  I'm sure not many people will venture in far enough to do the west ridge of Isolation Peak, but if you are looking for a fun scramble, it's pretty great.  Though not on the map, there is a pretty good social trail all the way up to Fifth Lake, and it would be pretty reasonable to do from there.
Link to hike map/GPX on Caltopo (like last time, there might be some bonus miles here).
Isolation Peak, Fleur de Lis, Mount Craig, and Ten Lake Park from Wild Basin:
Bluebird Lake, 10990 feet: 7.4 miles, 2490 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate+.
Isolation Lake, 12000 feet: 9.5 miles, 3500 foot gain.  Second class.  Strenuous-.
Isolation Peak,13118 feet: 10.25 miles, 4618 foot gain.  Second class.  Strenuous.
Fleur de Lis, 12250 feet: 12.3 miles, 3750 foot gain.  Third class.  Strenuous.
Mount Craig, 12007 feet: 14.4 miles, 3507 foot gain.  Third class.  Strenuous.
Ten Lake Park, 11228 feet*: 15.5 miles, 2728 foot gain.  Second class.  Strenuous.
Isolation Peak, 13118 feet: 18.7 miles, 4618 foot gain.  Third class (from the west).  Strenuous.
Isolation Lake, 12000 feet: 19.6 miles, 3500 foot gain.  Second class.  Strenuous.
Bluebird Lake, 10990 feet: 21 miles, 2490 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate+.
As a whole, this day covered 29.15 miles (maybe a little less, again got some GPS interference) with 8794 feet of elevation gain in up to third class terrain.  One of the big difficulties you'll face is the time above treeline, which is from around mile seven to mile 21.  Water is scarce, make sure you take advantage of what you find when you find it.  Strenuous+.
*This is the approximate elevation of the lake we were at. 

The East Inlet Basin.

Another long day planned this week, and I was happy to have my good friend Dan join me.  It's been awhile since we were able to meet up due to work schedules, injury, and other pursuits.  But it was great to have the company, particularly in someone who would enjoy this beautiful place.

We'd been emailing about some possibilities.  Earlier in the summer, I tried to jot down some destinations and group things together into logical days, with some designated for below treeline days (in the event of worse weather), and above treeline days (clear forecasts or storms later in the day).  I suggested a few of these better weather options, and we decided on East Inlet.  

This was really a perfect looking setup in my mind- follow a trail up to visit lakes, gain elevation and visit the peaks above the lakes, loose elevation and head back.  Well, I guess it wasn't that simple.  What were the words Dan used?  "Intimidatingly ambitious"?

We met in Lyons as usual and started the long drive up.  The forecast was looking good but not great.  Partial sun with some possible showers in the afternoon.  It was raining as we entered RMNP, but we hit patches of dryness and finally drove into clouds near the top of Trail Ridge Road.  

On the other side, a calmer sense of weather prevailed.  We started in darkness with headlamps on.  This trail flows pretty well, and we made good time moving up though some intermittent drizzle.  We had some debate about which way to go- which is to say do Mt. Wescott first, then deal with the bushwhacking of Paradise Park and Ten Lake Park, then peaks, then lakes, or the reverse.  The weather made the decision, and we opted to see if the day would dry the bush out, as we would have gotten soaked going through wet stuff early in the morning. 

At Lone Pine Lake.  Named, perhaps, for the tree on the small island?  It is named on the 1961 map, but the earlier ones have no name, and the shape of the lake is quite different.
We continued up through intermittent showers, never really enough to put on rain gear or even get wet, but it certainly wasn't the early morning sunshine we'd been expecting.

Next up was Lake Verna.  Very pretty, and made even more so by the tempest of clouds hanging around.  We started to see some sun poking out to the east, and made our way around this lake, which is the longest in the basin.
The official maintained NPS trail ends around here somewhere, but the unofficial trail is still in pretty good shape.  My guess is that this area gets enough visitation to clean it up.

Spirit Lake came next.  You can see the still swirling clouds around us, enveloping the peaks to our east.
And then someone ran out of names...

The creatively named Fourth Lake (if you're counting, it's the fourth lake up in the basin) was next, still on a pretty obvious and well maintained trail.  The precise "right" way to go disappeared as we moved up to around tree line.  We were able to follow some matted grass and the occasional cairn here and there to continue up to Fifth Lake, which, as you may have guessed, is the fifth lake in the basin.
We moved onto some stable talus and worked our way up to this lake.  We finally hit the high point and started to drop down.  Dan was in the lead, and before we could even see the lake, I said something like, "This is it!".  He turned back and smiled, an ear to ear grin.  Yes, this was it.  We hadn't even seen the lake yet, but could tell from what we could see that this was going to be something special.
Unfortunately, the following photographs don't do it justice at all, and you really need to go there and see for yourself...

We sat at the lake for a snack.  All was right with the world.  We watched with joy as the clouds swirled around Isolation Peak and The Cleaver and the sun tried to shine through to our south.  Immensely peaceful and satisfying, if I had been struck dead at this second, in this place, it would have been with a smile on my face. 

Clouds and Isolation Peak. 
We talked about the peaks above.  Isolation Peak was actually my first thirteener, my first real mountain at all I suppose.  I guess it does say something about me that I chose that over the easier and more popular peaks elsewhere in the park.  I was in love with Wild Basin at first sight.  It had to be Isolation.
Later that same year I visited The Cleaver, the small pinnacle of rock immediately south of Isolation on the continental divide.  I took a photo looking down into the East Inlet Basin, and it still stands as one of my all time favorites:

Looking backward to October 2011. 
I remember looking down at Fifth Lake, my feet dangling over lots of air.  Someday I would see you, and that day had finally come.
Feeling satisfied emotionally, mentally, and physically, we started up the grass and talus slopes to the massif above.  Along the way we would pass by a pretty large flock of Bighorn Sheep.  I counted a total of seven that we could see completely, plus a few heads poking up from points above. 
In the meantime, the clouds had cleared up, and the sun finally came out for good.

Pointing to some of the other places we've been.
It was fun to see some of the peaks that I'd visited just a week ago from a different vantage point.

Andrews Peak and Ptarmigans Beak from the south.
We got to the summit of Fleur de Lis in short order, and found a nice wind break to have a snack and sign the registers.  Yes, registers.  There were two jars here. 

Aiguille de Fleur is the rather blunt point that lies on a finger of land north of Fleur de Lis.  Supposedly the easiest ascent route is 5.0, and a long 5.0 at that.  I had seen pictures from the side, and found myself wondering if the steep grassy ramp here pictured to the left of the high point might be an option to obtain the summit.

We could also see parts of Ten Lake Park to our south.  This area looked so beautiful, even better than the photos I have seen.

More Aiguille de Fleur.  I left without any real feeling regarding the possibility of access of that ramp.  It looks pretty darn steep.

The other side of Isolation Peak.
We continued toward Mount Craig, and found ourselves looking at point 11902.  Over or around?  There was a clear way around the south side, but it would involve some elevation loss.  The north side looked worse.  Why not enjoy some scrambling?

We went up this point, finding some third class terrain, but eventually we reached a point where things got too hard.  We backtracked a little and decided to drop down on the south side to avoid the more difficult climbing.  The trees added a little bit of bushwhacking to this, but it wasn't too bad. 

We made the summit of Mount Craig without much more difficulty and basked in the sunlight and the great views, here again of Andrews Peak, Ptarmigans Beak, and Mount Alice.  It's been pretty neat to see the other side of many of these peaks that are most frequently seen from the east.

Back to Fleur de Lis and Isolation Peak.  We added our names to the register, another list of Colorado greats.

Paradise Park and peaks to the south.  These are all on the border of RMNP/Indian Peaks, and would be attended to in short order.

Picking out Aiguille de Fleur.
We were totally feeling the high here, that feeling that (for me) only comes from hard exercise, adrenaline, altitude, and good company.  I felt totally at peace with the world, completely happy and satisfied in a way that rarely comes.  Which isn't to say I am generally unhappy and unsatisfied, but out here, the dials get turned up past 10, and a rarely felt sense of total well being floods over the psyche.

Viewing Ten Lake Park, our next destination. 

Looking at possible descent routes.  We ended up heading south east to hit one of the lakes, and then working out way west and south.
We were able to stay on a game trail at first, but this soon became impossible.  We kept trying to head more west only to find our possible route blocked by cliffs, despite what the topo looks like.  The bushwhacking wasn't too bad in reality, with the main difficulty coming from dead fall, everything from massive old growth trees (I think I saw the single largest tree in RMNP that I have ever seen) to smaller and younger trees that were several feet off the ground and necessitated crawling under. 
We finally bottomed out in Paradise Park and found a fairly distinct but thin trail paralleling the creek.  We stayed on this for a short time until we could see the route we'd picked up Mount Wescott from above, and cut over to that.  In retrospect, we probably left the small comfort of this trail slightly too early, but things worked out ok.
The bushwhacking was slightly more intense here, but we hit a gully that would take us up soon enough.  At the top of this, we headed directly north. 
This peak is reported to be third class, and the south ridge looked a little more difficult, so we traversed around to the west, shortly finding a undergrowth covered ramp to take up.  Upon reaching a plateau and a cairn, we headed back east to the ridge, and worked our way up from there. 
The summit was small and treed in, but still offered some good views of the surrounding area. 

Looking north from the true summit.
The register was interesting, containing the names of the few who'd made the arduous trek to it, many of which were to be expected.  I saw Jim Disney, a local who has climbed all the peaks in RMNP.  And one we didn't expect- Troy Tulowitski.  I am no baseball fan, but recognized the name from the news.  Pretty interesting! 
This summit had seen no one since 2013.

Mount Wescott.
We headed back the way we'd come up, back down the gully to the creek, and to the thin trail.  We did see a few signs that someone might occasionally clean the trail up a bit (logs sawn off), but it had obviously been awhile.  In some places there was so much dead fall the trail became very difficult to find. 
Since we'd briefly explored it in the morning, we came to a place where Dan said, "Hey, I put my hand on that this morning."  Though we still couldn't see it, seconds later we were back on the East Inlet trail.  We stopped for a snack and to change out wet socks for dry.  It seemed like forever, but it took us about four hours to go from Ten Lake Park to Mount Wescott to where we stood now.  Chances were good we'd beat the sun back to the car. 
We looked for East Inlet Falls, but couldn't identify where it was precisely, and I think we'd both had enough bushwhacking for the day at this point.  I'll have to find it on my return trip to Aiguille de Fleur next year. 

East Meadow and clouds.  You can see Mount Wescott and Mount Craig here. 

A short detour to visit Adams Falls, which is pretty and very accessible. 
We made it back to the car right at 6:30 pm, giving us a 13 hour and 40 minute day.  There were highs and lows of course, but I will tell you my friend: I enjoyed every second of it, and thank you for your company.
This basin is pretty great, and the lakes here are real treasures, only getting better and better as elevation is gained and distance is added on.  Mount Wescott is probably the least choice of the peaks due to the nature of the bushwhacking required to get there, but nothing comes without reward.  If you are up for it and want to be surrounded by stunning beauty, make the trip to Ten Lake Park and spend a day exploring over there.  It is truly a special place amongst all the special places in RMNP.
Link to hike map on Caltopo.
The East Inlet Basin, distances as part of the hike:
Lone Pine Lake, 9900 feet: 5.3 miles, 1500 foot gain.  Moderate.
Lake Verna, 10180 feet: 6.9 miles, 1780 foot gain.  Moderate+.
Spirit Lake, 10300 feet: 7.8 miles, 1900 foot gain.  Moderate+.
Fourth Lake, 10380 feet: 8.4 miles, 1980 foot gain.  Moderate+.
Fifth Lake, 10860 feet: 9.3 miles, 2460 foot gain.  Strenuous-.
Fleur de Lis, 12250 feet: 11 miles, 3850 foot gain.  Strenuous.
Mount Craig, 12007 feet: 12.8 miles, 3607 foot gain.  Avoidable third class+.  Strenuous. 
Ten Lake Park, 11200* feet: 13.5 miles, 2800 foot gain.  Strenuous.
Paradise Park, 10500* feet: 14.7 miles, 2100 foot gain.  Strenuous.
Mount Wescott, 10421 feet: 15.6 miles, 2021 foot gain.  Third class.  Strenuous-.
East Meadow, 8540 feet: 19.6 miles, 140 foot gain.  Easy.
Adams Falls, 8460 feet: 20.7 miles, 60 foot gain.  Easy-.
As a whole, this hike covered approximately 21.1 miles with 7775 feet of elevation gain in up to third class terrain and with extensive bushwhacking involved.  Strenuous+.
*= exact elevation will vary since these areas cover vast swaths of land, and you can enter them at various places.