Boulder Hikes

Saturday, we checked out of Misty Mountain and had one last breakfast at the Egg and I.  Then we drove south to Boulder and into Boulder Canyon.  There was construction and one lane sections but delays were not too bad.  We parked at the Boulder Falls trailhead and made the short hike to the waterfall.

It was really flowing and looked beautiful in the early morning.  I scrambled around on the rocks to get pictures from different angles.

A large boulder at the top split the water into two streams.  A few more people showed up so we continued on.

Our next stop was Betasso Preserve, just a couple miles back down the canyon.  It was a good day for a hike as bikes are prohibited on Saturday.  We parked at the main trailhead and hiked the Canyon Loop in the clockwise direction.  There were some dotted gayfeather blooming in the open plains.

The views from the trail were very nice with some forested sections but mostly open areas.

About half-way through the loop we took the connector to Benjamin Loop.

Along the trail was an interesting white mantis, very well camouflaged against the rocks.

This loop was more forested than the first but there were a couple spots with nice views.

Finishing up this loop, we got back on Canyon Loop to finish it up.

Near the end, a short spur led out to an overlook with views of Boulder in the distance.

It was less than a mile from here through golden plains back to the start.

We finished our hike just after noon.

It was still fairly early and we wanted to get one more waterfall.  So we drove back to Boulder and up and over Flagstaff Mountain to Walker Ranch.  Parking at the Ethel Harrold Trailhead, the trail led steeply down to Columbine Gulch.  There were some nice views along the way.

At the footbridge, we crossed to get on Walker Ranch Loop and started heading further down.  It was gradual at first, but got progressively steeper as it followed an old road.  There were some fleabane and phlox blooming along the road.

After Eldorado Canyon Trail, we crossed South Boulder Creek on a footbridge.

Eldorado Falls was just upstream of the bridge.

It's not a high waterfall but very powerful.  The trail continues following South Boulder Creek past the waterfall, but we stopped here.

The hike back was steep and uphill the entire way.  I spotted some Pineywoods geranium for a much needed break.

Soon we made it back to the trailhead.

From here, we headed back to Denver and checked into the Hampton Inn by the airport.  The 24-hour shuttle didn't start until 4 in the morning and our flight boarded at 415, so I called Enterprise and they were nice enough to allow us to return the car early in the morning.  We had dinner at Moonlight Diner right next to the hotel and then went to bed early for a very early flight home.

Bluebird Lake

Friday was our last day in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We had breakfast at Egg and I and then headed to the Wild Basin area of the park for a hike to Bluebird Lake.  The trail starts following the creek upstream and soon we came to Copeland Falls.  A spur from the main trail lead to North Saint Vrain Creek at the lower section of Copeland Falls.

This spur followed the creek closely to the upper section of the waterfall.

Then we headed back to the main trail and continued following the creek upstream.  In a little over a mile, the trail crossed North Saint Vrain Creek on a footbridge.

Once across, we started hiking up along Cony Creek.

The trail crossed the creek at the base of Calypso Cascades.  It's a tall cascading waterfall but there were a lot of fallen trees over it.

I think it would look best in the spring in high water.  In about another mile, we came to another waterfall - Ouzel Falls.

This was a really scenic waterfall with lots of rocks to climb around on.

We hung out at this one for a while then continued on.  At the next split, we went left towards Ouzel and Bluebird Lake.  There were some really nice views along the trail.

At the junction, we first went to Ouzel Lake.  The trail approached Ouzel Creek just before the lake.

The lake itself was scenic with Ouzel Peak towering in the distance.

We were going to have lunch here, but it was rather crowded with hikers and campers, so we headed back to the main trail and continued towards Bluebird Lake.

The trail got steeper but there were a tremendous number of wildflowers along the trail.

As we got close to Bluebird Lake, there was a patch where we had to negotiate a snow field.

It wasn't too bad and beautiful views climbing up.

There were some Colorado columbine blooming up here.

Just past here was Bluebird Lake.

It was very beautiful but quite cold and windy.

I got some pictures of the lake but it was too windy to stop and eat lunch.  So we started making our way back and ate some snacks along the hike.  We went slowly to enjoy the gorgeous wildflowers on the downhill return.

White marsh marigold was a small plant with white flowers.

The splitleaf Indian paintbrush was one of the most beautiful wildflowers.

Elephanthead lousewort is an interesting plant with a spike of flowers that resemble an elephant's head.

American bistort was a white, fuzzy looking flower.

High above, Ouzel Creek originates on Copeland Mountain and tumbles down as a waterfall.

The outflow from Bluebird Lake is a tributary and there were some cascades on this creek as well.

We also saw some poisonous monkshood along the trail.

The weather was fine until we got to near Ouzel Lake.

Then some storm clouds rolled in, but we were in the forest now so it wasn't too bad and didn't last very long.  There were a couple squirrels along the trail as we got closer to the trailhead.

I climbed up a little ways on Calypso Cascades but as soon as I got up, the sun came out from behind the clouds.

There was no point in trying to go further up.  So we made our way back to the car.

It was our last night in Estes Park and we had dinner at Wapiti Pub.  We did a little shopping and Sandy picked up a lamp and I got a fossilized fish.  Then we started to pack up for the morning.

Sky Pond

Thursday was another early morning.  We were headed to Glacier Gorge trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the most popular and earliest to fill up.  Arriving right at sunrise, there were parking spaces, but it was filling fast.  The trailhead was beautiful in the early morning light.

We set off on the through Chaos Canyon.  There were some nice cascades along Tyndall Creek.

After crossing the creek, the trail followed Glacier Creek upstream.  In less than a mile, we made it to Alberta Falls.

It was beautiful in the early morning light.

We got some pictures from the base then I climbed up on the rocks for another view.

Shortly past here, there was a nice outcrop with views of Glacier Gorge and Bear Lake Road below.

Where the trail made a switchback back towards the creek, there appeared to another waterfall on Glacier Creek, but it was hard to see.  I made the treacherous climb down the cliff to the creek.

It was a really nice waterfall with an upper split drop around a boulder with some smaller cascades below.  I named it Glacier Gorge Falls; it was too nice to be unnamed.  Continuing on, we passed the split for North Longs Peak Trail and then came to the split for Mills Lake.  Although we were going towards Sky Pond, we made a quick detour as the topo map showed Glacier Falls just upstream from the split.  Climbing up on the rocks, there were some cascades on the creek down below, but I thought the unnamed waterfall we found was a lot nicer.

Back on the main trail, we spotted some mountain goldenrod.

Soon, we came to the Loch.  There were nice views of this alpine lake as we hiked around the northwest shore.

Past the Loch, the trail started to get steep as it headed up towards Lake of Glass.  There were some scenic cascades along Icy Brook here.

We got our first view of Timberline Falls from a distance.

The trail got steeper as we approached the waterfall.  There were some beautiful columbine blooming near the falls.

And the view looking back to Loch Vale was fantastic.

However, this area was very crowded.  With a line of people to climb the waterfall, we instead rock-hopped out to the base of this beautiful waterfall.

There was a patch of snow as well.

Once the line died down, we climbed up the semi-dry section of the waterfall and continued up.  Once at the top, we came to Lake of Glass.

A beautiful lake and it was noticeably cooler up here as we hiked along the western shore.

There was a small waterfall on Icy Brook above Lake of Glass.

Climbing above this, we came to the beautiful Sky Pond at almost 11,000 feet.

Taylor Glacier was visible across the lake.

As we ate lunch here, we saw two people hike around the lake and start climbing the glacier with skies on their backpacks.

Heading back down, the view towards Lake of Glass was really nice.

Close to the lake, we ran into John from Raleigh and chatted with him for a few.  He still needed to visit Sky Pond, so we hiked back slowly so he'd catch up.  As we climbed down Timberline Falls, Sandy had to yell at a woman feeding a marmot.  When we got down, a father was petting the marmot in front of his kids.  I reminded them that marmots can transmit bubonic plague.

He was cute, but much too tame.  When we reached the Loch, we stopped for a break to watch some elk grazing across the lake.

Trout were swimming in the clear waters.

John caught up to us and we finished the hike back with him.  There were a lot of ground squirrels along the trail, presumably hoping we'd feed them like so many others obviously do.

When we reached the parking area, we said bye to John and headed out.

It was still early enough, so through we'd get a couple easy waterfalls.  We headed to Fall River Road and stopped at the West Alluvial Fan parking area.  There was construction but we could make it to the river and then rock-hopped into the middle at the base of Horseshoe Falls.

I think the waterfall keeps going up, but we didn't climb any further.  There was some fireweed blooming in the river.

After a couple pictures, we headed back.

Then we continued to Endo Valley and parked here.  Gravel Old Fall River Road beyond this point is one way and we didn't want to have to drive all the way back Alpine Visitor Center.  So we hiked from Endo Valley up Old Fall River Road just under a mile to Chasm Falls.  There were some nice cascades along Fall River downstream of the waterfall.

Further up was a cement overlook from which to see Chasm Falls.

Aptly named, Fall River falls through a narrow chasm and then cascades further down.  We then started heading back.

There were nice views from the road, but it would have been a long drive.

We headed back to Estes Park and had Thai for dinner and then went to bed.