Colorado Dayhiking Trip Report Thread

“Fountain Valley/South Rim Loops

5.2 Miles
400-500 ft. Elevation gain

What a spectacular hike! And the trailhead's only 20 minutes from my front door.

Took off early for the park. Started on the Fountain Valley trail which winds through a valley with views of the high plains to the east and amazing red rock sandstone formations to the West. The trail takes sidetrips to two overlooks with great views. Back at the trailhead I headed up the South Rim trail. This trail winds up to a ridge with incredible views back to the valley that I'd just hiked through.

Pics Here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/384833022ZMbCYN”

“Very nice pics Bison, enjoy it out there!”

“nice - and close to home too!

The foothills are just as fun to hike in as the mountains are.”

“What direction was Denver?

This area looks a good bit like Garden of the Gods which is about an hour south of Denver.

Great pics.”

“Dayhiker, Denver is Northeast of the park.”

“So you were probably 40 min from GoG then. Probably same formation.”

“Another great hike not 15 minutes from my house!

Got up early and headed to Waterton Canyon. The South Platte cuts through the canyon on it's way out to the plains South of Denver. The trail is actually a dirt road used by trucks that service the dams along the river. I hiked in about 11 miles total out and back. The trail was full of hikers, runners, mountain bikers, flyfishers etc... A very popular place, there's tons of parking at the trailhead and by the time I got back it was full.

Pics here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/385726822pjihYL”

“very nice Bison. Enjoyed the pics!”

“No 14ers yet?”

“we're doin a 14'er on teh 16th.

two actually - Gray's Peak and Torrey's Peak.”

“Just back from RMNP trip report and pics in a minute.

Toejam, Can I please get acclimated first?”

“Mills Lake

5.6 Miles
750 ft. Elevation gain

Considering how much drinking went on here last night it's a wonder I was able to get out of bed this morning. Somehow I managed to get out the door by 7:30. Got to the Trailhead about 9:30, had to take the shuttle bus because the trailhead parking was already full. It was cool and cloudy when I started hiking but the clouds began to break up after I got to the lake. The trail starts out nice and wide and climbs very slightly all the way to Alberta Falls where hordes of tourons sit around on the rocks. After the falls the trail gets rocky and climbs until a long traverse above the gorge. Views are everywhere! Mills lake is surrounded by huge peaks, Longs, Pagoda, and Cheifs Head. The lake is fairly large and quite a few people were up there. I got a slight headache during some of the climbs but I wasn't winded so I guess I'm acclimating pretty well!

Pics here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/387069154LQkhxP”

“so, you like my big backyard Bison?

;)”

“Your backyard! It's mine, all mine! mooooohahahahaha!”

“once again very nice.. at one time, this place may have looked like that place...”

“No, that's my backyard... all mine!”

“BTW...cool pics.. haven't seen Mills Lake without snow and ice yet.”

“Woooooooo! Hooooooooooo!

Great pics Bison! I'll be rolling into Colorado on Friday afternoon. Only one week for me, then back to humidity and hurricanes.”

“I was here first! Its MY backyard dammit!”

“I don't care WHOSE backyard it is. It brings back fond memories.

GREAT pics!”

“Bison, great pics. Glad you are having a good time out there. The pics of Alberta Falls brings back memories of when I was out there last Aug. BTW I think that is the same damn chipmunk that posed for me...lol

When you get a chance check out Indian Peaks Wilderness. Lots of good hiking over there.”

“Ewker, going to Indian Peaks tommorow. Will post report and pics when I get back.”

“thanks for sharing those spots. Every time I go to Denver, all I think about is "gettin up in them hills". I forget about the closer places that might allow for some after work evening strolls to unwind. I'll keep those locations in mind for my next trip out there.”

“Mitchell and Blue Lakes

Mileage: 6
Elevation gain: about 1000 ft.

Got up early and headed out. Got to drive up beautiful Boulder Canyon on the way to the trailhead. Got to the trailhead and headed up the nice wide path to Mitchell lake, the path was mainly dry and a bit rocky but climbed gradually. The view was tremedous with Mt. Audubon looming right over the lake. It was hard to get good many views at the lake though because the trees run right down to the shore. Then headed up to Blue Lake, crossed a large stream on a log bridge, then began climbing fairly steeply. The trail crossed many snowbanks and was quite muddy in spots. Eventually the trail got above treeline and the view was incredible with mountains rising straight above the cirque that holds blue lake. The lake was still frozen and you could feel the chill of all that ice. There were many people at the lake enjoying the perfect weather. I sat around for a while, had a snack then headed back down.

Pics here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/388009221UuiHJu”

“Cool pics man!

Have any problems so far with altitude?”

“Adventurist -

I had a bit of a headache again today on the uphills, but other than that I was fine. Today's destination was about a thousand feet higher than yesterdays. I think my acclimitization plan is coming along pretty well.”

“"Toejam, Can I please get acclimated first?"

Don't be a wuss! I drive up there from Texas and climb 14ers the first day. Millions of tourists every year exert themselves above treeline on ski hills and nobody's head is exploding. There is a lot of fear-mongering from elitist blowhards and those afraid of litigation regarding altitude. There is reason to be cautious and many people suffer headaches, but a young experienced hiker like yourself shouldn't have problems. You'll be a real expert on the subject soon.

Thanks for the pictures and reports. I'm green with envy!”

“Toejam,

I already am an expert, I've had AMS twice! Good luck continuing with going straight up, I'd been hiking above treeline alot without acclimating before the first time I got it, never again! AMS sucks, and you never know when it'll get you.”

“That's right, you have done lots of hiking outside of Tenessee. Pardon me, please. I respect your judgement based on experience. I've had mild symptoms lots of times and really bad headaches twice, but I think I've learned to understand my body at altitude and know how to minimize the effects.

Now would you like to hear my tirade about the odds of being struck by lightning above treeline?”

“It's Damn Hot in CO today! Trip report and pics shortly.”

“Fern Falls

Mileage: 5.4 (Seemed more like 6+)
Elevation gain: 650

Got up late due to some drinkin' and movie watchin' with the peeps last night. It was already hot this morning. Got to the TH at 10:30 it was 94 degrees! Wow! Hot even up high (Made me wonder how hot it had gotten back in Denver, Answer: When I got home 103) I headed up the nice flat trail intending to hike to Fern Lake. The trail follows the Big Thompson River which provides nice cascades to look at, also you can see some views of the high peaks as you walk along. The trail then weaves through some large boulders at a place called arch rocks. Then the trail begins to climb, Steeply! The problem was that the climb is in direct sunlight, and it was HOT! Hikers started actually turning around because they couldn't make it up the hill. I had to stop several times to gulp down water and catch my breath. IT WAS HOT! Finally I made it up to the falls. The falls were in the shade and the mist coming off of the falls cooled things down considerably. I ate some lunch by the falls then gave up on going up to the lake, I was out of water and I wasn't going another mile and 700 ft. up without water.

Pics Here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/389846684SFmdPT”

“Mt. Audubon (13,223)

Mileage: 8
Elevation gain: 2800 ft.

Got up super early to make sure I got to the trailhead in time to get a parking spot. Trail started out climbing slightly through spruce forest. 7:30 am and there were already plenty of people on the trail. Trail came to the first set of steep switchbacks in the forest. The trail traverses above the switchbacks then goes above treeline. The wind was blowing wildly, after awhile I had to stop and put on my goretex jacket to block the wind. The trail came to a second set of switchbacks that led above a huge snowfield to a saddle below the main peak. The views from here were fantastic. You could see Longs peak to the Northeast and basically all of the rest of Rocky Mountain National Park. You could also see almost all of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The trail then led to steep switchbacks on the last push to the summit. The guidebook said to stay on the main trail and follow the cairns, only problem was you couldn't really tell what the main trail was and there were lots of cairns. So I just picked my way up the talus slope to the summit. The views from the summit were incredible, and so was the wind. Fortuneatly there were several stone windblocks. I sat down in one of these and ate lunch. Then, realizing that I might not get home in time to watch the race I pretty much ran back down the mountain, which of course led to big blisters on the balls of my feet. Ouch. An incredible hike, and the highest point I've ever hiked to 13,223 feet.

Pics here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/391426351NTppXt”

“Nice report, good hike. Is there more than one trailhead? It seems to me that we hiked a lot further than 4-miles to reach the top.

Just the name of that mountain gets me excited about hiking there. Congratulations on getting up higher in the world.”

“NS, there's another trailhead that's on a 4wd road, the trailhead I left from was the only paved one.

I forgot to mention that the blue lake hike I took a few days ago leaves from the same parking area, When I finished my hike there were people parked along the road all the way back as far as you could park, at least 3 miles, all walking all that way to the trailhead, talk about a popular place.”

“Yeah, Indian Peaks is overrun with Denver people this time of year. To beat the crowds you gotta go to the North side of RMNP into the Comanche Wilderness or the Rawah Wilderness, or any of the other 3 or 4 wilderness areas north of the Park.

Good hike man!”

“Roam,

I made it up and down with no problems whatsoever (well except for the blisters, but that's my fault). I expect I'll be in great shape for the 14ers next weekend.
last edited: 7/10/05 7:00:57 PM”

“Cool - lookin forward to it.

Think we could get a bag night in next weekend somewheres?”

“I'll think about it, I'm really tired right now, I had no probs on the hike but I'm wiped out afterwards, so I'll have to see if my energy level picks up during the week, I'd be worried that I'll be wiped out after that hike too.”

“Bison or Roam, either one of you went over Pawnee Pass yet. Nice hike to get there, well at least from the side I came up.

Bison, another nice hike you might want to do is Monarch Lake. It is 3.8 miles around the lake but a few trails take off from it.

BTW, I am really getting tired of these day hiking reports everyday..ppphhhhhtttt ;-)”

“Ha ha Ewker, I'm going hiking again tommorow, so deal with it :)”

“Calypso Cascades, Ouzel Falls, Ouzel Lake

Mileage: 9.8
Elevation gain: 1510 ft.

Got up and decided to head for the Wild Basin area in the Southeast corner of the park. Hadn't been to this part of the park before. Drove down the twisty narrow dirt road to the trailhead. The trail starts out wide flat and travels along the creek. Shortly I came to Copeland Falls, a series of small cascades. The trail continued and started to climb a bit more. after about a mile the trail started to climb steeply and eventually came to Calypso Cascades a much larger series of falls than Copeland. There was a good view right from the bridge that crosses under the cascades. Continued hiking up and eventually reached Ouzel Falls, had to hike up a bit off the main trail to get a really good view of these falls. It was pretty hot out today but there are rocks at the bottom of Ouzel Falls and the water hits and sends up a bunch of mist that kept things cool at the bottom of the falls. Left the falls and continued climbing up through an old burn. The trail climbed up a ridge with great views of Longs Peak and Mt. Meeker as well as many other peaks to the West. Eventually I came to the cutoff for Ouzel Lake, the trail descended a bit then climbed slightly along Ouzel Creek to the lake. I wanted to get pics of the lake but my batteries had died. A very nice gentleman saw that my camera wasn't working and insisted that I take four AAs from him (Thanks!) I got some shots of the lake and ate lunch on a rock outcropping, the weather was perfect and so was the scene! Then I headed back down.

Pics Here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/392591316xfjfgT”

“Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Lake Haiyaha, Bierstadt Lake

Mileage: 9.5
Elevation gain: 1200+

Got to the park early to hike up Hallett Peak, only to discover that in my rush to get out the door this morning I forgot my boots! Uh oh, well I wasn't going to hike up a rocky mountain in my sneakers, not with my ankles. So I opted to check out the lakes near the Bear Lake TH. I started by hiking the wide, level, easy trail around Bear Lake, then headed up to Nymph Lake, then further up to Dream Lake, the views from the trail into Glacier Gorge were fantastic. Great views of Longs Peak. I wanted to go on to Emerald Lake but the trail beyond Dream was closed for maintenance. So I headed up to Lake Haiyaha. Very interesting setting at Haiyaha as the lake is surrounded by large boulders. I headed back down to Bear Lake and then hiked over to Bierstadt lake. The trail to Bierstadt was mostly in the trees, no views. But the view once you get to the lake is expansive, very beautiful. I headed back to Bear Lake and waded through the sea of tourons to my car.

Pics Here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/394409949MlQZZL”

“you get a really cool view of Flattop from Bierstadt lake.

I've not seen Hiayahahahahaha yet, but i hear its pretty nice, just like you said.”

“thanks for the report it sounded great-”

“Hallett Peak trip report and photos shortly.

Damn it's hot out here, Roam, turn on the air conditioning please!”

“i'll make the request -

if you thought it was hot today in the mountains - just wait till your baking in teh parking lot at the Warped Tour this sunday!”

“Roam, Today's hike was comparable in mileage and elevation gain to Saturday's, so I'm ready.

Yeah, it's gonna be f'ing hot at a music festival in the parking lot downtown!”

“dang, it took you that long to get use to the altitude out there ;)”

“hot but fun!”

“its so hazy, i can't see the mountains any more

means it must be pretty hot for sure.”