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.
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.
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