Rocky Mountain Park Dunraven TR

“Ok I don't have the trip report typed up yet but here is the link to the photos from my and Laurie's trip to Rocky Mountain Park. http://community.webshots.com/album/445593638EvEXWW
last edited: 9/08/05 12:31:08 AM”

“Cool. Thanks for sharing. How was that trail going in?”

“Nice shots... gorgeous!

And... how does it feel to put your arm around a backpack?? LOL! ;-P”

“Nice pictures, flasher! I got a kick out of the "darnn timer" shots...lol ;)”

“nice shots - lost lake in the evening especially.”

“Sunday Day 1:
Laurie and I awoke at the KOA campground in Estes Park and started packing up the tent and our packs. We kind of got a late start as we had a cooler of food we where leaving behind in the car and we wanted to make sure it was packed with an ice block and loose ice. We traveled north out of Estes Park and headed to Dunraven Rd which took us to the Dunraven Trail head. The trail starts out in the Comanche Wilderness and takes you start with about 200ft of elevation drop before you slowly start heading back up. You end up with a total of 3000ft of elevation gain for the whole trail back to lost lake. The trail itself runs along side the Big Thompson River and is also shared with horseback riding. As Laurie and I arrived in the parking lot we became a bit worried seeing the whole lot was full with cars and horse trailers.

It was around 12:00 when we donned our packs and grabbed our trekking poles and heading out on the trail to our first campsite Lost Falls. Along our route we passed several families and horseback riders. We paused several times adjusting Laurie’s new pack and peeling layers of clothing off as the sun heated up the summer air. As we kept hiking on we noticed that we where the only ones on the trail so far that had multi-day backpacks on and where starting to feel we may get lucky and not run into to many people at the campsite. As we hiked along we went through some private property and went past some of the campgrounds in the Comanche wilderness area all which where empty. Around 2 ½ miles into the hike we became worried that we took a wrong fork in the trail as we could barely hear the Big Thompson River in the distance. At that point we decided to stop and cook lunch get the map out and figure out if we where in the right spot. After checking the trusty National Geographic topo map we figured we where on the right spot. We finished lunch and headed on our way. We got our confirmation that we where on the right trail when we crossed the boarder into RMNP. We soon passed the Halfway campsite, which we found out why it was so named. Halfway campsite is not halfway on the trail but half the elevation gain you’ll counter on the way to Lost Lake, which is close to 3000f of elevation gain so at the halfway campsite we had already gained 1475ft. We where both relieved to be at Halfway campsite as it told us we had only 1.5 more miles of hiking to the campsite and the elevation had started to take its toll on the both of us leaving us short of breath on any small uphill we encountered. As we hiked along towards our campsite I noticed the trail had leveled off for the most part. I took comfort at this but was also new that any elevation we didn’t gain today would have to be gained tomorrow and it would be gained over a much shorter span.
As we got into the Lost Falls campsite we quickly noticed that nobody else was camping so we had our pick of which site we wanted. I quickly got our REI Quarter dome set up and grabbed the bear keg and head out to find a place to store it and make dinner. We found a spot about 200yds away where we broke out the trusty Pocket Rocket and had a Mountain House Turkey Tetrazzini meal. After finishing our meal I had brought along a raspberry desert for our first night, which was a bit to rich for our tastes but we ate it anyways. After packing the food into the bear keg and hanging the rest of the cooking gear we head back towards our campsite. By now it was 8:00pm and we where both rather tired. We sat around the campfire for about a half hour and look at the stars and then headed for the tent. I check the topo map one last time and confirmed my fears that we had 1400 feet of elevation gain the next day but it would come over 2 miles instead of the 6 we had that day
last edited: 9/08/05 11:00:46 AM”

“Liz it feels great to have found someone that enjoys the outdoors as much as me. She's a great girl as we had a blast on our trip. I still have to type up day 2,3,and 4. I'll try and keep those days a bit shorter and I'll have to tell you about the rest of the trip as well. As you can see I'm not getting anything done at work today.”

“Day 2 Monday
After getting a Good 12 hr nap in from the night Laurie and I awoke around 9:00 on Monday morning and started getting out of the tent. We had drunk all our water dry the night before so Laurie volunteered to go down to the river and filter water. While she filtered I started to tear down camp and start packing the packs for a 2.5-mile hike up to lost lake. Once Laurie returned we went back to the spot we had dinner the night before and made oatmeal. We also had dehydrated bananas before our trip and mixed them into the oatmeal for what was a tasty surprise. After breakfast we finished packing up and headed down the trail once more. The first thing we noticed was today’s hike although shorter by 4 miles was much steeper and there for we took a lot more breaks as we tried to get acclimated to the elevation. By now we where up to 10,500 ft where Lost Lake stood at 11,250. We only encountered one person on our hike up to Lost Lake and that was shortly after noon. We arrived at campsite close to 1:00 and had already depleted our 6L of water. I was amazed on how fast we went through water. After setting up tent we went down to Lost Lake, which was about 100 yds from campsite. There we found a nice rock to sit on and cook lunch and filter more water. Laurie once again took filtering duties while I broke out the stove. After eating we decided to hike around the lake and take some photographs. Halfway through our hike a ranger helicopter flew over top of us 2-3 times. We later fond out he was looking for a lost hiker that had gotten split up from his group and basically was lost on the other side Rowe Peak. After finishing our hike it was getting near 6:00 so we broke out the food and made dinner. Once again Mountain House delivered a good meal with Beef Stroganoff. After eating there wasn’t much for us to do, as campfires were not permitted at lost lake. We retired to the tent and pulled the rain fly back and watched the stars till we started getting sleepy. Right before we dozed off I got out and put the rain fly over and so concluded our day two.”

“Day 3:
I awoke early on Tuesday to get down to the lake and set my tripod up for what I hoped would be some good pictures. I was blessed as I hiked down the river just a few yards I found a still pool in the river that reflected the warm mountain glow just perfectly. I must have waited for almost another hour and a half snapping a picture every so often as the light changed with the rising sun.
When I had finished taking pictures I was greeted back at camp by Laurie who was gathering things for our day hike up to Lake Husted. Although not marked on the map the Park Rangers told us of a small trail that took you up another 500ft to Lake Husted. Not wanting to pass up on some Rangers advice we set out to find the trail. After a half and hour of wondering around we stumbled on the trail that lead up to the lake. Once up to the lake we were treated to great views of Rowe Mt and Ice Pass. While we where at Lake Husted Laurie had glanced over and saw far off in the distance a large set of waterfalls that she wanted to see more closely The falls where shown on the map but where not named. Since the Falls came down from Lake Dunraven I decided to name them Dunraven Falls. The falls pored into two small ponds which where also unnamed. Laurie figured we should call them James and Laurie lakes seeing that they where so cute.
As we reached the foot of the falls Laurie wanted to climb and see more. So up the side of the falls we went and we made it to the top and hiked over to Lake Dunraven. We now noticed it was getting towards 12:00PM and we figured we needed to get back down to camp as we still had 5 miles of hiking to get to our next campsite. With that said we started making our way back down a different route snapping some pictures along the way. We got down to Lake James and where walking across some rocks when my foot slipped and my left boot got buried in water and mud. I was mortified and worried that all the water in my boot and the fact I would be putting my heavy pack on soon would result some blisters. We finished hiking down to camp and started doing tear down. I switched into an old pair of socks and used it to mop up as much water out of my boot as I could.
Around 2:00 we had camp tore down and just finished eating lunch we had set out for our next campsite. My foot now with a new pair of socks on felt rather dry meaning the old pair of socks must have mopped most of the water out. We both agreed we like hiking down hill much more than up and we made the 5-mile hike right at 4 hours. Pretty good time considering all the little rocks Laurie wanted to stop and look at and more pictures we took. We got to our last campsite, which was on the boundary of RMNP and the Comanche Wilderness, which was so aptly named Boundary Creek campsite. We were a bit worried about our campsite due to the fact everywhere we looked we saw raspberries and wondered if the black bears where not to far off. We saw plenty scat the whole trip but never did see any wildlife. After cooking dinner we set a fire and stayed up till 9:00pm before heading to bed. We talked through the night about plans for the next day, and marveled at the scenery we had just seen during our day hike that morning.
last edited: 9/08/05 1:21:31 PM”

“sounds like you guys had a super trip!”

“Great report. I hit the Dunraven trail last year, but didn't make it all the way to Lost Lake. Congrats on completing a long, long trail.”

“Thanks T Mac I would recommend going back and doing Lost Lake. It is just awesome up there.”

“Great TR! Them rockies, aint they beautiful?”

“thanks for the report. hope to hike with you this fall”

“Looking forward to it myself. Perhaps on the November trip Liz and I are talking about.”