Alpine Wildflowers

Our flower expert Zelma comes for two weeks and explores all her favorite places on hikes with the Y. Today it was my turn to escort her on an alpine extravaganza. Let's just say that we hardly hiked, but we saw about 35 species hidden among the rocks or hugging the ground at 12,000 feet. Alpine sandwort was one of our first to see.

Nailwort is easy to miss with its little green sepals perched on its cushion.

Narcissus Anenome are one of the tallest plants on the tundra, growing where they are sheltered from the winds.

Cabin Creek Cascades

Today was the inaugural hike to Cabin Creek Cascades. Thanks to a friendly ranger who showed me the cutoff to this old and faint trail that winds its way through the forest on the eastern flank of Mt Meeker and then up Cabin Creek.

There are so many beautiful cascades, it is hard to choose one for a lunch stop. Today we stopped beside the large rock face.

Muneca found another travelling companion hidden away in someone else's backpack. BunBun has been hiking with Amy for over 30 years.

The Four Tops

Another perfect day on the tundra and another first. I have never turned right when I have hiked up Flattop before. But before that right turn, we could look to the south at Hallets and Tyndall glacier.

As we moved north across the tundra, we rounded Ptarmigan Point at the head of the gorge leading down toward Lake Odessa. All the front range east mountains were still visible on the horizon.

Notchtop from the tundra side is just a mound of rocks, allowing us to peer down into the gorge.

Knobtop was our next destination. It is a strange looking rockpile at the edge of the tundra, that makes you question how the rocks ended up here?

Our next stop was Gabletop. While climbing to the summit, Tom nearly stepped on a ptarmigan protecting her nest. Hidden under the rock were 6 medium sized speckled eggs.

From Gabletop we descended Tourmaline gorge down a very rocky gulley. The clouds had risen up the gulley, engulfing us in a strange fog that would come and go. Eventually we reached the bottom and stopped for the remainder of our lunch overlooking Tourmaline Tarn.

When we had finally climbed down to Lake Odessa, we had to climb back out of Odessa gorge. Rather than taking the trail, we rounded the west side of the lake where the original trail had been. Fallen rock, snowbanks, and rushing streams were beautiful, but Grace Falls in full force was our reward for this extra effort.

Lion Lake

Lion Lake is worth every inch of the 14 mile roundtrip hike. It is not too steep, although those last few miles do seem to go on forever. And I will always remember that southern preacher from a Mt Alice hike about 12 years ago who was praying for some help from above as we were about a mile from the lake. But the view of Mt Alice on the other side of the lake, with Tanima to the south and Chiefshead to the north is beautiful.

The bonus of reaching the lake in early July is that you just might be lucky enough to spot not just a single glacier lily here and there, but fields of them where the snow has recently melted out.

Plenty were blooming, but you could see that even more were ready to burst open. And they weren't the only flowers. Bog Laurel, Globeflower, Marsh Marigold, King's Crown, and many others were taking advantage of the short summer.

Our group at Lion Lake - Ed, me, Bruce, Regina and Muneca.

Black and Blue Lakes

I will never get tired of this hike. It passes through so many of my favorite places with so many memories. We reached Mills Lake by 8am as the sun was hitting the western slopes. Shady, cool and breezy on the eastern side, we didn't stop for long. On through the mile of blowdown area that still looks post-apocalyptic 18 months later. As we approched Black Lake, the last pockets of snow were still holding out near Ribbon Falls.

At Black Lake, Bruce received his 250 mile patch. Muneca was lucky enough to join in the celebration again this year.

With only minor krumholz fumbling, we made it to the bench which holds Blue Lake. The view of upper Glacier Gorge from here is hard to comprehend. It is a huge bowl scoured out, with 13,000 and 14,000 foot peaks surrounding it.

Thanks to Pat's prediction, the wind did soften enough for us to enjoy lunch at Blue Lake, including some of Ken's delicious chocolates.

From the north side of the bench, you can walk out and look back down Glacier Gorge. Jewel and Mills lakes lie below.  

Another stop at Black Lake on the way down allowed us to sprawl on the grass and take in the imposing mass of McHenrys.

Emerald Lake Photo Hike

When you get up at 4:30am to go on a 6am photo hike, you just might take a lot of photos. And if the light is good, you might take a few that you like. And if you are in Rocky Mountain National Park, you have some beautiful subject matter. The morning stillness of Nymph Lake provided a perfect backdrop for our first stop. Waterlilies are only starting to pop up in the lake.

More Nymph Lake reflections.

Walking around to the far side of Nymph Lake brought a reflection of Longs Peak and Thatchtop.

Further up the trail from Nymph, the view to Glacier Gorge opens up. The glacier knobs show up against the higher gorge, and half mountain does appear to be sliced in half from the force of the glaciers.

As the sun starting hitting the rocks and warming up the chilly morning, a marmot joined us on the trail.

Dream Lake may be the most photographed lake in the park, but for good reason. A short hike with a big reward. Hallet and the buttresses of Flattop tower in the distance.

There is a slightly better chance of mirrorlike reflections in the early morning than any other time of day. Our luck continued to hold as we roamed around the shore of Dream Lake.  

Jacobs Ladder was one of the few flowers in bloom in the subalpine area around Dream and Emerald.

I'm slowly learning how to use the panorama mode on my new camera. I can finally get a full shot of Emerald Lake.

Our group at Emerald Lake - Jill (with Muenca), John, Maggie, and Bruce.

Twin Lakes

A hike in Wild Basin in June means that the hunt for a calypso orchid is on. A flash of pink/purple in the foilage beneath the pine trees is the only clue you receive. Finally, we were rewarded by one of the elusive flowers.

Bushwhacking up several hundred feet from the trail, through juniper bushes and loose rocks, we arrived at the larger of the Twin Lakes. This lake provides the perfect foreground for a view into the upper reaches of Wild Basin.

A short hike through the boulders and plenty of spider webs and we emerged at the smaller of the twin lakes. Lily pads are starting to spread out across its surface.

Our group at Twin Lakes

Deserted Village - or is it Dessert Village?

Strolling up the North Fork of the Big Thompson River, the summer flowers were in full force. Luckily Dott was along to help on the few that stumped me. Our destination was the deserted hunting camp of Lord Dunraven. Not much remains except for the one dilapidated cabin, situated in a large meadow next to the river.

Muneca had to check out the old window once again. I think this is her annual shot.

After the hike, we had to stop at the real destination, the Glenhaven General Store. Cinnamon rolls are just as wonderul as they have always been.

The Needles on Lumpy Ridge

A day without a pending thunderstorm is always a plus when hiking up to any destination at the top of Lumpy Ridge. Instead we had some intense sun as we hiked across the fields above MacGregor Ranch and headed for the gully next to Sundance Buttress. At the base of the gully, we realized we still had about 1500 feet to go - this was going to be steep. As we reached the first rock walls, the path took us through this enormous cave, large enough for all to take a break on the way back down later.

We finally finished zigzagging our way up the gulley and reached the saddle with the Needles on either side of us. Our first ascent was the eastern Needle, which is the tallest. Just a little scramble and we were there.

After lunch at the saddle, we did a quick climb of the next Needle. More great granite, and more dramatic dropoffs. The more I hike around Lumpy Ridge, the more I am intrigued. It is so different than any other area of the park, formed by uplift and not glaciated. Domes of granite pop up everywhere, inviting you to scramble around like a kid.