Day 18 - RMNP Day 5

Our hiking destination today was to go up to Bierstadt Lake. It is a 3-mile moderate hike that we turned into 3.5 miles.

We left a bit later, arriving at the entrance gate at 9am. These deer were getting in their morning run. 

The line was much longer to get in than any other day so far. We made our way to the Park & Ride to catch the shuttle bus one stop to our trail head. We arrived at the trail head at 9:50am. We were the only ones getting off at our stop so we thought it might be a less popular (quieter) hike.

It starts off with a steep climb up the face of the mountain, with total elevation increase of 700 feet. It starts in a lodgepole forest then emerges into aspens.

There are 11 switchbacks and by the fourth we had amazing views of Longs Peak and the Continental Divide, as well as Bear Lake Road below. The sun was really warm and there was minimal shade in the first section so we were grateful we started up in the morning.

We could also see Sprague Lake that we visited yesterday.

As we kept going, we crossed over a few logs and the trail became barely visible. We walked a bit and couldn't find the trail! We must have missed a turn. This is Michele walking back down it without a smile. 

The logs should have been our clue to stay out. We should have turned left, it was a bit hidden behind a boulder. We couldn't see the path unless we looked behind us.

Back on track, on our way up we passed only about 8 people. As we were nearing another switchback we met a couple and their adult son. The lady had on a U of Minnesota tee-shirt (Go Muskrats!!). Michele asked her if she's from Minnesota. Yes! Her other son, who was hiking on another trail that was 10 miles long, is a student at U of Minn studying neuroscience. He starts back up after Labor Day. We chatted for awhile about which trails we've been on and how wonderful this park is. Rob talked to the man about their road trips that they prefer to do by car so they have family time together. They were very kind and pleasant people. 

After the switchbacks, the trail leveled out and we got to the highest point. We followed the signs to the lake. 

The lake was very quiet and a mama duck with her three ducklings were swimming and fishing. One duckling was really fast and liked to explore. It paddled from the middle of the lake to the reeds at the edge. It realized it was so far from its mama that it started quacking in a baby voice and bee-lined it over to her. 

The skies had clouded up considerably by this point. We walked around the lake and got shots from different sections.

 

We decided to back track a little bit to the junction on the trail for the 1.5 mile trail to the Park & Ride. It was only an extra half-mile or so on our total mileage and seemed more convenient than waiting for the bus, even though they visit the stops frequently.  

We soon discovered that it was a very rocky route! Likely the mountain run off goes through here. At times it seemed we were walking through a dry stream bed. Michele's toes were feeling it. 

Along the way we passed this active yellow jacket (we think) nest. 

We heard before we saw this female Hairy woodpecker. It was so quiet in the woods that Michele heard its claws scampering up the tree bark. She was a healthy size and fun to watch for awhile. It seemed she would tilt her head to listen for bugs beneath the bark.

On nearly every trail except the alpine ones, we've been accompanied by these really loud clicking insects. One landed on Michele today. Rob thinks they don't have much control over their flight. Their wings are bright yellow when open in flight.

We made it back to the Park & Ride a bit sore from the slow, downhill rock maneuvering for about 45 minutes. 

The picnic tables were open, so Rob suggested we have our lunch at the Park & Ride instead of putting on all our gear and driving over to another location. We had a great view!

One of the park volunteers was doing his lunchtime laps around the parking lot. He said it is three laps around for one mile and told us we might just miss the rain. He was a sprightly 80-ish man, so the laps are doing him good! We heard a boom and weren't sure if it was thunder or an airplane. Soon after another boom was unmistakably thunder, so we packed up fast and hit the road. We got back to our hotel at 2pm. The rain started before we could get the bike covered, we were just 5 minutes too late. Rob quickly got it covered and wiped down the seats. The rain shower was brief and was over after 5 minutes.

We enjoyed the hike today as every location is unique. Although not as scenic a lake as the others, the hike up certainly was. We met nice people along the way, saw wildlife, got a good workout and had great weather. 

The rest of the day we watched movies, caught up on email, and made spaghetti again for dinner. It rained quite a bit in the late afternoon, getting foggy in the mountain. Out back where the Fall River flows just steps outside our deck door a group of robins were washing themselves off in a calm pool formed by rocks on the edge of the fast flowing river. It was fun watching them. 

Tomorrow is our last hiking day in the park. We hope to visit the Alluvial Fan trail in the morning before we head to the laundromat.