Ouzel Falls in Winter.

This past week marked my first ever time snowshoeing. I was just a little over ambitious as I was thinking I could get to Cony Lake. That sure didn't happen, but I did have a fun time anyway.
I started bright and early at the winter trail head for Wild Basin. The dirt road will be closed about a mile or more from the normal trail head, which will add some difficulty to any adventures you plan here.
I parked just as then sun was rising. I strapped on my snowshoes at the gate and started off for the Finch Lake trail head.
In winter with snow.
By the looks of things, only one other person had hiked on this trail recently, only in boots, and it was not broken in for snowshoes, which made the going pretty hard.
One of the beautiful 'glens' you pass through once you summit the moraine.
I was following the persons tracks, and eventually I came to a place where they must have camped for the night. From there on, they used snowshoes, but the going didn't get any easier. There were a ton of trees down, and navigating those in waist deep powder with snowshoes strapped on was pretty difficult. Even the act of walking was hard, as the shoes would still sink in to around mid-shin to knee depth, requiring a hard pull up to get your foot out.
Mount Meeker as kind of seen from the trail.
Eventually I reached part of the forest fire area and discovered that whomever I had been following decided to turn around at a pile of downed trees. I decided to press on.
The going got even more difficult, with even more trees down over the path, harder wind, and deeper snow. I have to say, that of all the physical activities I have done, this has been the hardest so far. Just having each step sink in and having to pull your foot up and out was so tiring and strenuous. Eventually I got to more and more dead fall and finally decided to turn back and take the trail to join the Thunder Lake trail and head to Ouzel Falls.
As far as I got on this day.
Stopped for a quick snack on the way back.
The trail between Finch Lake and Thunder Lake trails was totally unbroken, save for the person whom I was behind. It was hard going, even generally headed down. But when I got to Thunder Lake trail, it was pretty well broken and the going got alot easier.
I stopped at the familiar sight of Calypso Cascades, made unfamiliar by being draped in a blanket of snow.
Looking up the cascades. Quite a difference a few months makes.
From here it was pretty easy going up. The packed snow really takes all of the steps and rocks out of the trail and greatly smooths things out. Downed trees were still an issue though, and it seemed to take a long time to get to the falls. I think my fatigue from the earlier trail was setting in.
Ouzel Falls.
Thick ice.
The great lookout slightly above Ouzel Falls.
Looking up from the bridge to the falls.
Still a little bit of water flowing, can't be much longer until it's all ice.
It has been pretty neat to see Ouzel Falls at different times of the year this season. From the early spring light flow, to the early summer torrent of water, back to a more moderate flow in the fall, and down to almost nothing now.
Ouzel Creek on the way down.
The first crossing of Ouzel Creek, below Calypso cascades.
Near the bottom.
Back at the Wild Basin trail head. Phew!
Snowshoeing was tons of fun! It is pretty awesome to see the same terrain I have been looking at the whole summer in a much different way. And it is great exercise. I would highly recommend to any fans of hiking in RMNP that you find some snowshoes and try a winter hike.

Ouzel Lake.

Two weeks ago I set out early with the goal of summiting Mount Copeland. This would be my third attempt and third failure. I got to the trail head relatively early. Early enough at least to see no one else until I arrived at the lake around 9 am.
Early in the morning on the Thunder Lake trail.
Below Calypso Cascades.
Calypso Cascades.
Besides the lack of people, it was different to hike the trail that I had done so many times before so early in the morning. Very peaceful.
Ouzel Falls, a neat destination in its own right and a nice place to stop and have a snack on a hot day.
I found these rusty cans off trail shortly after the cliff face Ouzel Falls dumps over.
It was overcast above me and had rained a little on the drive up, but I was hoping that slim section of sun would come my way. No luck.
After you skirt the cliff face, you will come to the intersection of the Bluebird Lake trail. Go left here to head to Ouzel Lake as well. The trail gets a little steep here before flattening out on a plateau. The plateau is part of the area burned by the forest fire in 1978 and is highly exposed to the sun. Be sure you have enough water, sunscreen, and clothing before proceeding.
I came across these two deer on this section of trail.
The female deer on the left above ran away as I approached, but this male deer would not budge. He was acting undeerlike and this kind of worried me. I kept my distance and tried yelling at him and he didn't move. I blew my whistle and he stared me down. I was considering just going up right and refinding the trail, but I still didn't like the idea of having him behind me with my back turned. I finally picked up a rock and threw it to hit the ground a few feet in front of him. That got him to run away.
Copeland Mountain, Ouzel Peak, and Mahana Peak as seen from the forest fire burn area.
Interesting looking burn patterns older than me.
Unfortunately right around the time I reached the intersection of the trail with the Ouzel Lake trail it started to rain. It was gentle at first, so I kept going.
I used this log bridge east of Ouzel Lake to cross in preparation for Copeland.
Ouzel Lake in the rain. No less beautiful and just a little wetter.
I decided at this point I could either turn around or keep going. Since I had come this far already and it was still early, I decided I would keep going and try to get to tree line before reevaluating and either heading on or going back. And up I went.
Copeland is different from all of the other peaks I have done because there is no trail to it and you have to start well below tree line, necessitating a arduous bushwhack. I started up the hill, picking my way as best as I could. I kept this up for around 45 minutes. Since the rain was still falling and all of the plants were wet, my pants got soaked and the water ran down my legs, soaking my feet. I was getting wetter and colder. While I had brought a rain jacket, I did not think to bring rain pants.
I stopped to reevaluate. I was wet and cold already, and things were definitely getting slippery. The rain didn't show any signs of letting up and even if it did, my legs would still have gotten wetter from bushing through the wet undergrowth. Every step I took up was a step farther away from the trail.
The view from where I turned back.
Really, there was no other choice. I headed back down the the lake, and back to the car. I saw a few other people heading up, including two with no additional gear wearing only a hoodie and a tshirt. Not the best choice.
I got back to the car and blasted the heat. Nothing ever felt better!
Copeland 3, me 0. But I'll be back!
Ouzel Lake is a pretty fun hike in itself. It is a good distance but not too far and doesn't gain too much elevation, making it accessible to most everyone. There are some great views from various parts of the trail of Meeker, Longs, Mt. Alice, Chiefs Head, Tanima Peak, and of course Copeland, Ouzel, and Mahana peaks. You also pass a few good sights- the cascades and Ouzel Falls. The lake is very pretty and scenic. For something else neat, head overland north once you reach the lake. This will take you to Chickadee Pond, which is entirely covered in Lily Pads.
Ouzel Lake:
5 miles one way, 1520 foot gain. Moderate.

Thunder Lake.

Pretty early this season I made the hike to Thunder Lake. By 'pretty early' I mean sometime in June or July (can't remember now), but at the time that I did the hike, the book was talking about all the beautiful wild flowers I should see. Keep reading....
Park at the Wild Basin trail head and start on up. As usual, when heading to Thunder Lake, Lion Lake, or surrounding areas I would recommend taking the campsite shortcut trail to cut .7 mile off of your hike.
The campsite trail rejoins Thunder Lake trail.
Copeland Mountain from the trail.
Rushing water.
Stream crossing.
Interesting melt patterns on a rise.
Looking up to the saddle between Mahana and Isolation Peaks.
The next sign you come to indicates the split of the trail. Stay left for Thunder Lake, take a right for Lion Lakes. Shortly after this split I hit this..
Remember those wildflowers I mentioned? Instead I got snow. Despite all of the snow and some fallen trees, the trail was still pretty easy to follow until I got closer to the lake.
I found this sign and was excited to be there almost. However, here is where I got lost. I kept following footprints that seemed to just end in the middle of no where, forcing me to look around and refind them. Little did I know I was right next to the lake, I just could not see it through the trees!
I finally hit on some continuous tracks that took me to the west end of the lake, and met a father and daughter from St. Louis there. I talked to them for a bit, took some photos, and headed back out...
Tanima Peak over the lake.
We could see what looked like footprints heading right up some of the steeper snow. In retrospect, these just may have been melt patterns, which can look deceivingly like tracks.
Looking east from the west end of the lake.
In panorama.
Mt. Alice and Pilot Mountain from Thunder Lake.
Tanima Peak keeping watch over the lake. It doesn't look nearly as steep from this perspective.
Panorama!
Creek cutting through the snow.
Snow still as high as my head on the trail.
The split of Thunder/ Lion Lake trails.
1978 forest fire burned area.
On the way back I kept on the Thunder Lake trail to go by Ouzel Falls. This was my first visit to it this year and I was amazed by the volume of water pouring over it. The previous summer it was impressive but this was like a mini Niagara!
Calypso Cascades cascading.
This was the season(2011) that the St. Vrain washed out the trail just past the bridge just past the campsite trail intersection. I was amazed that the trail was just gone. As of last week (early September), repair work was still going on here, but it was dry and passable. Some people were trying to rock hop and some were crossing over some dead fall that had been thrown across. Both looked slippery and possibly dangerous, and my feet were already wet, so I just pulled up my pants and walked through the water. It was very cold, but felt great on my sore feet. Water was even running onto the bridge over the creek before falling back in. Pretty amazing!
What amazed me even more is that when I was pretty close to the trail head, I just couldn't hold it anymore and got off trail to go. I found this...
Jesus is love.
Aside from damaging a tree, it struck me as funny that someone took the time to carve this at a place that no one would see it. I just happened across it by chance.
I got back to the car and got ready to drive back. Another fun day hiking in the park!
Thunder Lake, 10574 feet:
6.2 miles each way, 2074 foot gain. Moderate hike.