Here are some photos of a recent hike to Calypso Cascades in Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. This is a beautiful hike along the Saint Vrain river. Not a lot of vistas but a beautiful setting and this time of year abundant water. The warm pine smell was just amazing and my favorite memory of this hike. I looked the entire way for orchids and was rewarded right before the falls with many clusters of these delicate flowers. We were also rewarded by meeting a huge family of Ptarmigan. This hike is 3.6 miles round trip with slight elevation gain. The parking lot is small so arrive early. Enjoy! See you on the trail!

Pair of Calypso Orchids

North Saint Vrain River Wild Basin

I have been doing a lot of research for a historic listing of mine on Virginia and came across this old video. This historic Rocky Mountain National Park video shows old lodges from the 1920′s time period and is fascinating.

If you know where these are located it is fun to explore these sites and look for clues of earlier inhabitants …. If you note the locations of trees and other natural landmarks you can see today that many of the trees still stand today. The lake at the Hallet Lodge has been drained, but you can see the hill where the lodge sat and a two of the large Ponderosa Pines remain on the site. This lodge is seen from Horseshoe Park close to the Lawn Lake Trailhead. We are rich in history here in the Estes Park Valley I encourage you to take the time to explore and learn more about it.

You start this hike from the Glacier Gorge Trail Head.  Parking this time of year is starting to fill up, but this Monday it was fine.  Shuttles are running from the Park-n-Ride if you need them.  Slightly overcast and warmer than the cold weekend weather I was able to get by with a fleece and raincoat. The day before I would have wore a parka.

The water is still running fiercely in the rivers, streams and trails in the park. I had to do a lot of rock hopping to keep my boots dry.

Along the trail to Alberta Falls

I usually don’t go by the way of Alberta Falls and prefer to short cut, but today I wanted to see the falls with all the amazing snow melt we are experiencing. It is still early summer and the trails were not crowded. Alberta Falls is such a short hike you see all types of hikers-serious backpackers or people out for a stroll wearing pressed shirts and Dockers pants.

Marsh Marigolds

Glacier Creek

Alberta Falls

The plants and wildflowers are going to be extravagant this year. You can see the foliage starting to come out as the snow melts away. We didn’t encounter any snow on the trails until right before the Loch where there is still a large snowfield. The sign for the lake is still partially buried in the drift.

Snow field before the Loch

Cathedral Wall at the Loch

This is a great intermediate hike, only 2.95 miles to the Loch. If you are hiking with children, places to stop and rest along the creek are plentiful. Later in Summer you will find raspberries and lush Columbines in the area where the trails split to go to either Mills Lake or the Loch. Right now you can see the Marsh Marigolds ready to bloom along the creeks and drainages.  Great views of the park to North and also Half Mountain as you hike. Once you arrive at the Loch the landscape and cliffs are amazing. Sit on the shore and enjoy views of Powell Peak, Taylor Glacier, the Cathedral Wall, in the distance Timberline Falls. If you choose to continue you are only 1.4 miles from Lake of Glass.  See you on the trail!

Equipment at the Alpine Visitor Center

We missed the first day of the Trail Ridge Road opening, but we drove up the next day. This has become a tradition of our family to drive over to Grand Lake opening weekend. We stop and act like tourists at all the overlooks and play in the snow.  If it’s not too snowy my husband runs up Heart Attack Hill, which this year it was blocked off.  We did stop and play in the snow at Poudre Lake, it was way over my kids’ heads.  As we dropped down after Poudre Lake we kept our eyes peeled for moose along the Colorado River and luckily we found a group of cars stopped right before you turn into the village.  As we drove we talked about how the landscape has changed with the mountain pine beetle damage killing so many Lodgepole Pines.  There are large clearings where the park service has removed diseased trees for the safety of campers. We ate at the Sage Brush Inn, they have great food and service and the girls love to throw peanut shells on the floor, each other, other patrons, the waitress-if you have kids you get my point.  Afterwards we grabbed some world famous ice cream at Grand Lake Chocolates and walked down to the lake to eat it. The kids played in the freezing cold water at the lake until their lips were blue and it was time to head back home.

Poudre Lake Snow

Grand Lake Moose

Here is a short video with some footage of the road, don’t watch if you get motion sick easily. I was just holding the camera as I sat in the car…

My husband, Alan, and his friend, Michael Hodges, ran up to the Alpine Visitor Center on May 19th before the road opened.  They drove to Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and parked there to start their run.  It is 17.25 miles round trip to the visitor center and back with 2000′ of elevation gain.  They did have to deviate from the road because of the snow removal operations going on. Here is a short video of some amazing snow I think you will enjoy

Spending time in the RMNP back country is one of life’s simple pleasures. I try to plan a couple trips per summer with my family. It allows you to enjoy places further into the park because you can spend the night and venture out on day hikes. A place we have wanted to go is Lawn Lake and Crystal Lake. The only draw back is all the tons of gear you have to haul in, especially when camping with children.  Three days of food for 5 people is hard to pack for,  it took two bear canisters to hold it all. My husband and I try to load our packs the heaviest and then let each of the kids carry their own clothing and snacks. We have a rule: The person with the heaviest pack gets to whine~and that’s usually my husband and he doesn’t whine.

The Big Pack

There are three individual campsites and one group site located right East of the lake in the trees. The sites are private and the trees protect you from the wind. We choose the second site so we could set up two tents and there was a large tree stump to cook on.

Filtering water at Lawn Lake

It was cold and rainy the entire weekend. We passed a lot of time in our tents waiting for the rain to stop. Some of the wildflowers were still blooming, but many were already done. We did a little exploring between rain storms and I spent the first night mostly awake after something large walked right between our tents.

New friend we met on the way to Crystal Lake

The second day my two youngest daughters and I headed up to Crystal Lake and my husband and my oldest daughter started scrambling up Mummy Mtn right behind our campsite. All of us were caught in the nasty thunderstorm that hit in the afternoon. My group turned back, but the other group was able to summit successfully. These two photos were taken 10 minutes apart, the first one we were just minutes from Crystal Lake hoping the weather would hold.  Unfortunately, a nasty boomer came over the saddle of Mummy and gave us a scare.

Sweeping Views above Lawn lake

Taking Cover coming down from Crystal Lakes

Stormy Summit

This is my second time being in this area, the most attractive feature to me is the diversity of the wildflowers. We saw Indian Paintbrush in all colors of the rainbow, yellow, light green, red, orange, pink, coral, and lavender.

Pink Indian Paintbrush

We made a slideshow of our photos and our favorite part of camping-Jiffy Pop over the stove.

This is a beautiful area, I hope you can make there someday. See you on the trail!

Devils Gulch Estate

Top of the world views. You won’t a find a better view in Estes Park! Longs Peak and the Continental Divide showcased from this home. Tucked into the Lumpy Ridge this rare offering backs to RMNP on 3+ acres. Simply walk out your back door into Rocky Mountain National Park. Aspens and large boulders line the drive to this private setting. Decks on every side of the home allow breathtaking views. Huge Master Suite with Fireplace, Jack and Jill Bath, skylights, built-ins and two decks. Elegant Dining Room with huge windows that allow the gorgeous setting to be enjoyed indoors as well. Featuring Five Bedrooms and Four Baths, Formal Living and Dining Rooms, Great room with wood burning fireplace, lower level Recreation room has a wood burning stove and full kitchen. The fifth bedroom doubles as a media room, Game Room, Exercise Room, Commercial Elevator, Secure Storage area, Central Vac, AC, Skylights & more. This is a must see property!?

More information HERE…

We are reaping the rewards of a very wet Rocky Mountain Spring in Estes Park. I recently hiked to the Big Pool on the North Inlet trail leaving from Grand Lake. It was 10 miles or so round trip and the wild flowers were the best I have ever seen.  The first mile or so of the trail is a jeep road because there is a private cabin along the trail. Once the trail narrows we saw fields of columbine in varying colors of rich periwinkle and light blues.  On the East side I have seen clumps of columbine, but these fields were amazing.  I also saw my first Calypso Orchid in a top secret location.  Along the trail further in we saw red columbine.  The vegetation was lush and we had to keep moving to ward off the mosquitoes. We stopped at Cascade Falls on our way to The Pool and took a break on the huge boulders and listened to the roar of the water.

Blue Columbine

Calypso Orchid

Red Columbine

Lush vegetation along the trails

Cascade Falls

I know many visitors to our area in Estes Park choose to remain on the East side of the park, but I would highly recommend exploring the trails in the West section of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here is an older trip report that I forgot to post. For a big hiking payoff with a short time commitment Emerald Mountain is the hike for you. This mountain located West of Ramshorn Mtn off of hwy 66 has fantastic views of the entire Rocky Mountain National Park.   You can park in the cul-de-sac at the end of the hwy and start at the trailhead.  We hiked this the first week of March on a sunny day.

sign post on the trail-go left

It’s maybe a mile and a half hike to the summit, but very steep.  I was huffing and puffing the entire way.  I just can’t stand hiking slow so I was pretty miserable trying to catch my breath, but the reward at the summit is spectacular.

Continental Divide

Mummy Range

You pretty much have wrap around views from Twin Sisters West to the Longs Peak around to the Continental Divide and finishing with the Mummy Range.  Absolutely gorgeous.  It was pretty windy that day on the summit, but the high altitude sun warms you.  I still had several layers on, but my husband just wore a t-shirt.  Snowshoes were not needed as it was windswept except for one drift near the summit.  See you on the trails!

My husband and I on the summit