2022 July - Colorado RMNP and Brainard Lakes

Our summer trip planning began back in the Spring, coordinating with my nearly 20 year-old daughter, Sarah, who wanted to do an independent (meaning ‘no parents’) trip with her circle of high school friends. When the realization set in that none of them were old enough to rent a car nor could they reserve a place to stay for such a large group, the focus changed to a family trip. Colorado has the closest western mountains to us from Iowa, so that was quickly decided as the destination. As planning progressed, we suggested to our daughter that she could invite her friends along if she wished; five accepted the invite and I booked a rental house that could house the eight of us near the tiny community of Raymond, between Lyons and Allenspark. My wife, Becky, and I assured Sarah that we’d try to be invisible as much as possible. Since I felt I had scouted out some of the best hikes in the area, I did mention they were welcome to join us or go and do their own thing.

I’d been mentioning Becky for many years that I wanted to hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness someday, so the house location was perfect, located about midway between the Brainard Lakes Area of Roosevelt National Forest (Indian Peaks Wilderness) and Rocky Mountain National Park. As we planned our hiking days, Rocky Mountain National Park’s Wild Basin Area was scheduled for road repairs starting on our third day in the area. Also, both the Brainard Lakes Area and the National Park required timed entry reservations, so the construction and availability of entry slots dictated our hiking schedules to a certain degree.

This was our family’s third visit to RMNP; but, several of our daughter’s fiends had never been to Colorado or high mountains. We enjoyed sharing their first mountain hiking experiences.

July 17th (Sunday): Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park: Finch Lake

Our first hike of the trip was my wife, daughter, and one of her friends (Hannah) who had ridden out with us. Hannah had never been to mountains before and; but, she’s fit and was excited to cover some ground. The remaining four friends would be arriving later in the evening of this first full day. With the Wild Basin access road closing for repairs on Tuesday, we headed to the area to arrive before 9 AM, when the timed entry procedures begin. By the time we arrived around 8 AM, the regular Wild Basin trailhead parking was full and we were directed to the overflow/winter parking area. (We later discovered via a trail sign that we could have parked somewhere in Allenspark and access the trail from there, with about the same distance to hike). We walked the road about a 3/4 mile to the Finch Lake Trailhead and began the ascent to Finch Lake. With the extra walk from the parking area, the day would turn out to be around 10 1/4 miles round-trip. The beginning of the trail gains elevation quickly, Sarah and Hannah had no problem leaving Becky and I behind (as we expected). After the initial climb, the trail flattens out for some distance, maybe a mile and half into the hike. We are still perplexed by cones of timber along the trail in this portion. The final two miles starts to climb again to reach Finch Lake. After a nice lunch at the lake, we retraced our path back to the cars and headed back to the house to greet the remaining four friends.

July 18th (Monday): Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park: Ouzel Falls, Ouzel Lake

With the rest of the group arriving on Sunday night, plans were made for the girls to do a rafting trip in late afternoon on Monday. I suggested Ouzel Falls (5 mile round-trip) as a morning hike for them, while Becky and I would be on the same trail, heading on to Ouzel Lake (9.2 mile round-trip) for our full day. We left the house a little earlier than the day before and were able to find available parking for both cars at the Wild Basin Trailhead. As with most mountain hikes, you ascend to your destination and go downhill on the return. Becky and I caught up to the girls at Ouzel Falls, took a few photos for them, heard about one of them catching a trout with a fisherman along the trail, then continued our journey to Ouzel Lake while they returned to their car to drive to the rafting location.

July 19th (Tuesday): Brainard Lakes Area of Roosevelt National Forest and Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

Our timed entry in to Brainard Lakes would not allow us to arrive before 11:00 AM, so we decided to hike the Mitchell Lake Trail to Blue Lake, a round-trip of right around 5 miles. This would give us time to drive the Trail Ridge Road in RMNP in late afternoon after the timed entry window ended at 3:00 PM. We felt our daughter and her friends needed to experience Trail Ridge Road and we offered to chauffeur them if they wished. They took us up on the offer, so we all piled into our Honda Pilot and headed to Brainard Lakes. The Mitchell Lake Trail takes you first to the namesake Mitchell Lake, a nice little alpine lake set in front of high mountains. As expected again, the girls left us quickly behind. We would periodically catch up as they stopped to admire views while we mostly kept to our slow-and-steady pace. Not too far past Mitchell Lake are some beaver ponds; a mother moose and calf were grazing near the ponds and we stopped to admire them for a while (safely from a distance). The final part of the trail passes more small lakes and eventually ascends above treeline to Blue Lake, nestled in the shadow of the Continental Divide.

As the afternoon clouds started to roll in, we began the hike back to the car and then headed North to RMNP and Trail Ridge Road. As the driver, I tried to mostly focus on the winding road instead of the amazing views. The passengers were free to enjoy. I pulled into the Rainbow Curve overlook and the group of six piled out of the back two rows of the Honda Pilot; a fellow (male) tourist witnessed the disembarking and wished me well for the remainder of the trip (LOL).

Mitchell Lake

My favorite photo of the day, just below Blue Lake

Blue Lake

On to Trail Ridge Road

July 20th (Wednesday): Rocky Mountain National Park: Nymph, Dream, Emerald Lakes

Four of the friends needed to start the return trip home on Wednesday; so, the friend’s group decided to spend some time in Estes Park for lunch and shopping before they began the trip back east. Becky and I followed into Estes a while later to pick up Sarah and remaining friend, Sammi. After reconnecting, we headed back into Rocky. I had been fortunate to get a timed entry for the Bear Lake Road corridor starting at 4:00 pm. The Bear Lake Trailhead parking area had plenty of open spaces that late in the afternoon, so we were able to start our short three mile round-trip hike right at the trailhead. RMNP does offer shuttle buses from Estes Park to the prime hiking trailheads along Bear Lake Road if you are unable to get the timed entry pass.

I love the instruction to just “Notice” while you’re on this beautiful trail!

Nymph Lake and Dream Lake on Ascent

Dream Lake on Ascent

Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake

Dream Lake on descent

Long’s Peak

Nymph Lake on Return

July 21st (Thursday): Brainard Lakes Area of Roosevelt National Forest

Our timed entry for Thursday required us to be into the Brainard Lakes Area no later than 8:00 AM; so, it was an early start to the day. Our permit required to again park at the Mitchell Lakes Trailhead; but, there is a 1/4 mile connector trail to the Long Lake Trailhead and access to the Pawnee Pass Trail. The hike passes Long Lake and Lake Isabelle (at 2 mile mark), then ascends another two miles to Isabelle Glacier at 12,000 feet. The final stretch does require some attention to navigation, as you arrive on the final flat, you need to watch for cairns to the left to cross the creek. In this section, it does ‘appear’ that the trail continues into a rockfall, but speaking from experience, there is no easy way to the glacier through the rockfall. This was my favorite hike of the week, with the alpine lakes, a moose, and an amazing lunch spot at the glacier. After thunderstorms chased us down with some rain and a little hail; the top section of the trail above Lake Isabelle is rocky with many steep sections, requiring careful descent in the rain.