Rocky Mountain National Park: Western Slope - September 14th & 16th, 2020
If you want to enjoy hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) without the crowds of people on the trails with you, head over to the western side of the park. Since it takes a while to drive over Trail Ridge Road from the east side of the park, we recommend spending the night on the western side, in the Grand Lake area. While we were camping in Winding River Resort and Green Ridge Campground near Grand Lake, we headed into RMNP for two full days of hiking, on Monday September 14th and Wednesday September 16th.
In the morning on Monday, we got everything ready for our hike. Our packs were loaded with food and water. Our trekking poles were out. Sun block was lathered on our faces. Our planned hike for the day was an eight mile loop on Green Mountain Trail to Tonahutu Trail to Onahu Creek Trail, then along the trail connecting the Onahu Creek Trailhead to the Green Mountain Trailhead. Not being able to enter RMNP until 10 am, the starting time of our timed entry permit, we didn't want to waste any time after entering the park before starting our hike.
We had a few minutes to spare before entering the park, so we stopped at the Visitor Center to see if they had any estimates of when Trail Ridge Road would open back up. Good news! They expected the road to be clear of snow either later that day or the next. We just needed it to be open on Thursday, the day we planned to cross over to Estes Park. However, as the temperatures rise and the air dries out, the Cameron Peak Fire could flare up again, causing Trail Ridge Road to close yet again due to smoke and poor visibility. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
While we were at the Visitor Center, a couple from Indiana were asking questions about our van. They were traveling in a Ford Transit that they had converted themselves. We exchanged some information and ideas. We hope they will enjoy their van and that it meets their needs. Hopefully we'll hear from them again to find out what additional things they have done with their van.
Green Mountain Trail is a steady climb for a couple of miles up to Big Meadows. It is mostly through an evergreen forest with a lot of dead trees, both standing and fallen, from the pine beetle kill a decade earlier. What we were not expecting was all of the fallen trees across the trail that we had to climb over, squeeze under, or navigate around. We didn't count them, but there must of been at least 30 trees blocking our path that day. One of the other hikers we spoke with said they knew someone who hiked the trail the week before and there were no trees blocking the trail then. So all of these trees must have fallen during the snow storm and wind that came through the previous Tuesday. Another hiker, a local woman who said she has been hiking these trails for 30 years, said she has never seen this many trees across the trail before.
We caught up with the Indiana couple on the Green Mountain Trail and chatted with them a little more. They were heading up to Granite Falls. We would love to hear how their hike went.
At Big Meadows, we turned onto Tonahutu Trail. It stays in the trees alongside the meadow for a while so there are still views across the meadow of the nearby mountain peaks. Along the trail is a couple of log structure ruins which are the remains of the Sam Stone Cabin and Barn.
Near the end of the meadow, we picked up the Onahu Creek Trail. It took us up over a ridge and down into the next valley where it started following alongside the Onahu Creek. The Onahu Creek Trail did not have as many trees blocking the trail as the previous two trails, which we were thankful for. Onahu Creek was also very enjoyable. We could hear the sound of the flowing water most of the time and there were many views of the creek with lovely little waterfalls. The trail crosses the creek several times for even better views of the water.
A section of the trail is under construction. It looks like they are putting in a long bridge or boardwalk through a wet section. As we went through, we saw a partial structure of large logs and large boards. The trail was a little muddy where we had to navigate alongside the construction. We wondered how they transport all that wood up to the construction site. Perhaps the large logs are made from nearby fallen trees. However, the large boards were milled, so they had to be brought up here somehow. The 4" x 12" boards were roughly eight foot long.
When we made it to the Onahu Creek Trailhead, some of our questions were answered. In the parking lot, park rangers were loading up mules with the milled boards. There were two large boards per mule, one on each side.
We made it back to the Green Mountain Trailhead in four hours and forty minutes. This was hike #50 of our 52 Hike Challenge, 7.9 miles with an elevation gain of 1345 feet.
It was only around 3 pm and we miraculously still had some energy left in us. So, in order to take full advantage of our timed entry permit, we drove up to the Holzworth Historic Site. The site is a half mile walk from the parking lot. The Holzworths started a ranch here in the 1920's and then built lodging for guests to enjoy fishing, hunting and horseback riding, first known as the Holzworth Trout Lodge and later as the Never Summer Ranch. The property became part of RMNP in 1975.
We were then ready for some ice cream, but we didn't want to drive all the way into Grand Lake for it, so we stopped at the Winding River Resort camp store and bought a couple of ice cream bars. It wasn't hand dipped ice cream, but it still hit the spot. For dinner, we cooked up some quinoa, added a bag of steamed stir fry vegetables, then stirred in some shredded cheddar cheese. A simple but filling meal.
Our plan for Wednesday was to hike to Lone Pine Lake from the East Inlet Trailhead. We originally thought that we didn't need a timed entry permit for the East Inlet Trailhead. The trailhead is outside of the west park entrance. However, we found out Tuesday evening that a timed entry permit was not only required for parking at the East Inlet Trailhead, but also for entering RMNP by foot. There were no timed entry permits left for the following day. However, a timed entry permit was not required for entering the park between 5 pm and 6 am. So we set our alarm for 5 am and went to bed early Tuesday evening.
Wednesday morning, we got up with our alarm at 5 am, threw our hiking clothes on, made a trip to the restroom, and drove over to the East Inlet Trailhead parking lot. We arrived at 5:45 am. There were a handful of cars in the parking lot, probably from backpackers out on the trail. Then we took our time making breakfast and getting our packs ready for our hike. Our annual park pass was hanging from our rear view mirror and we wrote a note saying we arrived at 5:45 am and were hiking the East Inlet Trail to Lone Pine Lake. As Left Buddy (LB) was finishing his second cup of coffee at about 7 am, a park ranger came driving through the parking lot. He stopped at our van and spoke with us. "Did you spend the night here?" he asked. "No, sir" we replied. We explained that we arrived at 5:45 am since we didn't have a timed entry permit and we were hiking to Lone Pine Lake. He wished us a safe hike and went on his way.
It was 7:30 am by the time we got on the trail. Adams Falls is only 0.3 miles from the trailhead. Even though it was autumn, the falls were still flowing strong. In the spring, the falls are raging, but they are still spectacular in the fall.
Since it was early and the air temperature was still cool, in the thirties, Right Buddy (RB) had issues with her camera lens fogging up. She tried leaving the lens cap off to allow the moisture to escape faster. That seemed to help, but not totally solve the issue. It wasn't long before the air warmed up and the lens was no longer fogging up.
It isn't long before the trail runs alongside a couple of meadows with a creek, East Inlet, meandering through the middle of them. We looked ahead to see a young bull moose walking down the trail towards us. He didn't seem too bothered by our presence. RB took a couple of pictures before the moose got too close. Then we stepped several yards off to the side of the trail in case he kept coming towards us. We still had an eye on him through the trees. Not long after that, he took a turn into the trees. He caught his hoof on one of the fallen trees and stumbled slightly. We're sure he would have preferred to stay on the trail as it was much easier to navigate than among the tangle of fallen trees.
While we were still along the meadows, a couple of deer came towards us along the trail. They were quick to head off into the trees. A hiker was just behind them. The deer were probably trying to get away from him and then ran into us. The hiker was just on a short day hike from his backpacking camp site along the meadows.
There were quite a few fallen trees across the trail, just like we encountered on the Green Mountain Trail two days earlier. This time we counted them. If we thought Green Mountain Trail was an obstacle course, East Inlet Trail was even more challenging. By the time we reached Lone Pine Lake, we had counted 104 trees across the trail. Some of them were small that we could easily step over, but most of them were more of a climb over, a squeeze under, or carefully negotiating a path around them. Many times there were groups of trees fallen together with a tangle of tree branches. When climbing over or under, we had to take care not to get our packs snagged on branches or get ourselves stabbed by the sharp stubs left on the tree trunks. A few times the tree trunks were so low to the ground that we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get under them. We didn't know we should bring knee pads on our hike!
After the meadows, the trail starts to climb. There are several switch backs along a rock face with nice views back to Grand Lake. The smoke had started to return, so the views were rather hazy. We heard that the smoke in the area was not due to the Cameron Peak Fire, but was from the California fires.
The trail then climbs alongside the East Inlet creek, crossing it a few times so we could enjoy the view of the small waterfalls and the sound of the water. Several hikers that were heading back down told us there was a family of moose up at Lone Pine Lake, a bull, a cow, and a baby. By the time we arrived at the lake, all we saw was a cow moose wading in the water, munching on something in the water. A nice treat that made the struggle to get there worth it. We sat down on a large boulder to eat our lunch and watch the show. The moose didn't seem to mind our presence and entertained us for about 20 minutes. As we were about ready to pack up and leave, the baby moose came out and joined mama. They then both started meandering towards us. Time to leave!
While we were at the lake, a park ranger joined us. She said she came up the trail to scope out all the fallen trees. She also told us that there were a few rangers near the beginning of the trail clearing some of the trees. We were about two or two and a half miles from the trailhead when we came across five park rangers who were packing up their equipment for the day and heading back out. The five of them with a couple of chain saws and some other limited equipment that they had carried in with them had cleared all of the trees across the trail from the trailhead up to that point. We're guessing they had cleared about forty trees, in one day. They must have been working hard at it for about five to six hours that day. RB asked one of the rangers if he got his workout in for the day. He responded with "everyday!". We admired their handiwork the rest of the way down the trail. There was one tree trunk that was about 18" in diameter where it had crossed the trail. The rangers cut out about a 15 foot section of the trunk in five pieces and hauled each section off to the side of the trail. We can't imagine how much each of those trunk sections must have weighed.
The hike took us longer than we expected it would, about eight and a half hours. It was a good thing we started early! This was hike #51 of our 52 Hike Challenge: 11.8 miles with an elevation gain of 1893 feet.
After an exhausting day of hiking, neither one of us felt like cooking dinner, so we ordered pizza from Grand Pizza, despite just having pizza the night before. We remember dining at Grand Pizza as a family for a treat after picking up one of the kids from Camp Chief Ouray. This time we ate our pizza in the picnic shelter in the Town Square Park. Of course we managed to muster up the energy to walk down to Miyauchi's Snack Bar for ice cream afterwards.
The fallen trees made our two hikes more challenging than usual, but they made the hikes feel more adventurous. They also gave us a greater feeling of accomplishment as we were able to rise to the challenge. After enjoying the peaceful hikes on the western slope, we were ready to head over to Estes Park on Thursday to check out the crowds on the eastern slope.
Check out our related video: Rocky Mountain National Park - Western Slope
(RB)