This park is truly amazing, we are enjoying what we discover each day. Today was all about lakes, sudden temperature changes and animals.
The morning was cold at about 54 degrees when we walked across the street to get breakfast in the main hotel. We planned to visit the shorter hikes with the goal of reaching three of them if parking was available. We arrived at the Beaver Meadows gate at 8:30am and there was a long line. We had a 10-minute wait. Once we got through and turned left on our usual Bear Lake Road, only four cars were ahead of us.
We decided to visit Sprague Lake first. The parking lot is large and we were early so we had our choice of spots. Once we got off the bike, we were both roasting! Even though the elevation was a bit higher than in town, the sun was out and really warmed us up fast. We shed all our gear and walked over to the trailhead.
As we were walking through the heavy forest, it seemed odd that the trailhead for the lake was taking us away from the lake. The map appeared to show that trail connecting to other trails to make a loop. Not so! No matter, we had a nice walk and saw a few animals.
This lone mule deer was foraging nearby the trail.
This male Hairy woodpecker was squeaking and chirping while searching for bugs on the trees.
We had this pseudo trail mostly to ourselves which was a nice change of pace from the busy trails we've been on this week. Rob called it Lost Loop since we didn't go in the intended direction. It was about a mile or so and we ended up back at the parking lot where we crossed over to the lake area. We started in a counterclockwise direction and soon realized a very large family with boisterous children would be walking at the same pace as us. We turned around and went in the other direction. Much more peaceful! We snapped shots along the way.
These ducks had matted down grass near the lake's edge and were having a little rest. They were no more than 5 feet off the trail and didn't seemed bothered by the hikers passing by.
There were a few folks fly fishing in the lake.
At about the halfway point, we were looking at the ducks and a man stopped to ask if we knew what kind they were. We laughed and told him about the 2 hour duck seminar we took through Loudoun County earlier this year, but couldn't remember most of them. Then he asked about the Goldwing and he and Rob ended up talking about cars. He is from Long Beach, CA and we talked about gas prices and taxes and a guy he knows who stole ballots from the local election. He was really nice, but we had more trails to see so we said goodbye. Soon after Rob got a quick shot before a breeze rippled the lake.
The lake is named after Abner Sprague who had a homestead there in the late 1800s. He and his wife lived there with their six children, and opened a lodge for fishing and hunting. He dammed the lake to increase the size of the lake and improve the fishing. The lodge became a hotel in 1915 when the park was formed. The lodge no longer exists but stood on the parking lot site.
We finished at the lake at 11am. We couldn't believe we were there almost 2 hours! It was so peaceful and scenic.
Next destination would be Lake Irene where we tried to have a picnic earlier this week but there was no parking at the time. This lake is up and over the ridge peak on Trail Ridge Road, and about an hour's ride since the speed limit is mostly 35 mph. It would be perfect timing for lunch if we could get a spot.
As we rode, we noticed a dark cloud brewing. Rob looked at the Wing's radar and said he thought we'd be okay without rain gear. At about 10,000 feet in our ascent up to 12,000 feet, it started sprinkling. At 11,000 feet the rain was heavy. Rob said it would rain all the way up to Alpine Visitor Center then improve after that. Whoa was it cold! Since Sprague Lake was a warm 72F we didn't really gear up for the higher elevation. At the highest point of the road, 12,200 feet, the temp had dropped to 52F.
The great thing about being near the top of the tree line is that you can see where the storm is. Michele had her seat heat cranked up.
Once we got up and over the ridge, it started warming as we descended to 10,700 feet. We arrived at Lake Irene and found a parking spot. Everyone else had the same idea to eat lunch first then do the hike, so there wasn't a picnic table available initially when we arrived. An older couple parked next to us asked about our trip. They live in Colorado but are from Michigan originally. Their picnic table opened up so we grabbed it once we finished chatting with them. All the other tables had opened up by the time we finished our lunch. Even though it was only about 65 degrees here, the sun was so bright and intense that it was baking our bare skin. Then a cloud would move over and it was really chilly, especially with the slight breeze blowing.
After lunch, we started the short hike around Lake Irene. As with all the lakes here, each one is very different. This one was very dark, about the color of coffee.
The wildlife was really active here. Just a few steps in we heard a lot of bird chatter and chirping, and several species were flying about. Like this Dark eyed junco that lives year-round in Colorado.
We saw many of the Yellow rumped warblers that were outside our hotel room the other day. Rob caught a particularly nice pose on this female.
Meet Scamps (named by Michele). He was so tame. Rob wondered how close we could get before he moved. We got really close (a few inches and he didn't even flinch). Michele said maybe he wants a belly rub!
We saw his cousin chomping away at delicious vegetation a little later.
The Pygmy nuthatch is common here.
We had the trail mostly to ourselves as the lunch crowd had already done their loop. We walked out to a remote section before turning around for the back loop and had an overlook at a meadow.
While Rob was looking for the birds, Michele looked at the plants.
The trail meets up with the Ute Trail, which was narrow most of the way back to the lake area. It was so quiet that we could easily hear little bird chirps all around us.
Once we got around the lake on the other side and back to the bike, it was already 2pm. We really liked this hike, it was a nice surprise and exceeded our expectations like everything else in the park. We decided to leave the third hike, Alluvial Fan, for later this week and instead headed over to the Safeway in Estes Park to pick up picnic items and dinner ingredients for tonight. From Lake Irene it was about 45 minutes to an hour back to town.
On our way back along Trail Ridge Road at about the highest elevation point we saw a herd of elk grazing down below. It was a gigantic herd and they were on the very steep slope facing into the cold wind. They are little specks because it was a hard shot to take from the moving bike. Michele was twisted in the seat to catch a glimpse. There were easily 50 elk, maybe 100.
Back on town, Safeway was packed and a bit frantic. We were in there awhile since we didn't know the store layout. Rob suggested we make spaghetti for dinner along with our few pieces of leftover pizza from last night. We also got frozen broccoli, crusty bread and our lunch items and headed back to our hotel. Just as we unloaded the bags and our gear from the trailer, it started raining lightly. Rob quickly put the cover on the bike for the night.
Our dinner turned out great in our tiny kitchenette using the few pots and dishes in our unit. We have enough spaghetti and sauce so we'll be making it for the next two nights! We relaxed the rest of the night and started watching an older movie we've never seen, Flight of the Phoenix with Dennis Quaid.
Tomorrow we visit another lake and plan to use the park's free shuttle from the park and ride area. The trailhead parking (all 7 spots) for this hike fills up by 6am. There aren't any designated motorcycle spots, boo.
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