On the west side of the park sits a range of mountains called the "Never Summers".While that is true in an ordinary summer, this year the range has been nearly inaccessible. High water on the Colorado River has washed out many of the bridges used to get over to the range. The overabundance of winter snow has only slowly started melting out, causing more flooding and unstable ground. But we decided to head to Parika Lake and Parika and Farview Peaks in the hope that I could to return to an area I last visited more than 15 years ago.
Although there were many downed trees and large patches of snow, the trail to Parika Lake was easy to follow. The forest is so different than the east side of the divide. Trees are larger and spaced further apart, wildflowers seem to be larger and more vibrant, and we hardly saw a soul in our 10 hours of hiking.
The huge snow field at the top of the saddle beyond the lake had melted out enough for us to follow the trail to the saddle. Views down Baker Gulch and over to the front range were beautiful. Longs Peak looks like an abnormality from this side, soaring above it's neighboring mountains.
It was all as gorgeous as I remembered - hiking up the last steep grassy slope, with tiny tundra wildflowers everywhere enticing you to stop and look. A perfect hike on a perfect day.
No comments:
Post a Comment