Lawn Lake Trail - Rocky Mountain National Park

I'm on this trail every year, the Roaring River is one of my favorite greenback cutthroat trout streams in Colorado. I typically stop about two miles in (up) and start fishing. I've always wanted to hike all the way to Lawn Lake, and after seeing a report of monster greenbacks in Big Crystal Lake, I added it to my 2011 trip agenda.

The day finally arrived, I left my younger brother's place in Westminster at 4:30 AM, and went through the park gates before the rangers arrived. By 6:30 AM I was leaving the trailhead at 8,500 feet.

The first mile of this trail (in my opinion) is the most difficult but don't let that discourage you because once you make it to the Horseshoe Falls overlook the trail levels out and stays that way for the next couple of miles. At about four miles the trail hits another section of switchbacks. Just after this the Roaring River changes directions from north/south to east/west and you get your first view of the Lawn Lake bowl and Mummy Mountain.

The trail remains mostly flat while you make the final push toward Lawn Lake, with one more small set of switchbacks. At six miles, and 11,000 feet, I got my first view of Lawn Lake - it's been a long time in the making!

Lawn Lake was not my final destination, so I pushed on up the trail. Colorado had received a very heavy snowfall in 2011 and the trail above Lawn Lake had large drifts remaining.

With the increasing altitude and increased slope, the trail above Lawn Lake gets increasingly more difficult. As you near 12,000 feet you have the option to go to the saddle between the twin 13,000 feet peaks of Fairchild Mountain and Hagues Peak or (my destination) Crystal Lakes.

At this junction, I get my first taste of downhill, with a short downhill to 11,500 feet and Little Crystal Lake.

Little Crystal Lake was not my final destination, but it is a very short distance between Little Crystal and Big Crystal. At just over eight miles and 3,000 feet in elevation gain, I was standing on the edge of Big Crystal Lake and the shadows of Fairchild Mountain.

I sat and watched the massive greenback cutthroat do their mating dance for what seemed like an hour. I was surprised to have another angler show up as I was having a quick lunch before. He had set up camp at the Lawn Lake site. I don't know what I would prefer, the sixteen mile day hike or lugging a pack six miles to Lawn Lake?? After a quick bite to eat, I took the time to look around from the Crystal Lakes perch.

The view from Big Crystal was amazing, not that you should expect anything else when you are above treeline in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a shot of Lawn Lake, 500 feet below and two miles via the trail.

With the heavy snowpack and late runoff, the wildflowers were in amazing display.

You never know what kind of "critters" you will run into on the high trails. These guys seemed to have no fear of me.

I finally passed a few fellow hikers on the way back to the trailhead, but for the most part I had the trail entirely to myself. I made it back to the trailhead about 2:30 PM, with over sixteen miles and over 3,000 feet of elevation gain on my feet.

My next plan was a hike into the west side of the Indian Peaks Wilderness so I took the Fall River Road to the Trail Ridge Visitor's Center. The late runoff made for some beautiful cascades along Fall River Road.

It's been a while since my last entry and even longer since my last hike....I need to change that!

Chris

Timber Lake Trail - Rocky Mountain National Park

The first time I made this trek was on a weekend trip to Colorado for my 40th birthday. For my 40th birthday my wife bought me an airline ticket so I could climb my first 14er on my 40th birthday. My birthday fell on a Sunday so to acclimate I made this hike up and around Timber Lake, stopping on the way back to pick up a few Colorado River cutts from Timber Creek.

You would think the trailhead would be somewhere near Timber Creek or Timber Creek campground, but instead it is across Trail Ridge Road from the Colorado River trailhead - about a mile up the road from the campground.

The trailhead sits somewhere around the 9,000 feet mark and Timber Lake rests in a cirque just over 11,000 feet. That's a pretty moderate elevation gain over the 5.3 miles, with only one strenuous section of trail.

The first mile or so of the trail is relatively flat as parallel the road. After you cross the footbridge on Beaver Creek the trail begins to quickly gain elevation. During this section of the trail you have excellent views of the Never Summer Mountain as you catch vistas in and out of the tree tops. I had several photos of these views but a lost laptop hard drive = lost pictures.

Once the trail turns east and heads away from the road the trail flattens out again until you reach the 3.5 mile mark and the junction with Long Meadows trail. This is also the first opportunity on this hike to wet a line for Colorado River cutthroat.

If you decide to remain on the trail your next half-mile is the most difficult section of the trail. With multiple switchbacks this section of the trail is still difficult until you reach the meadow section and Jackstraw back country campsite. Once you enter the high meadow you will also pick up Timber Creek again.

I think this is one of my favorite sections of water to fish anywhere in the park. The stream is a little over a foot wide, and deeper than wider, but if you can get a fly on the water through the high grasses the little cutts are very anxious to take anything that hits the water.

The final pitch up to the lake is another steep section of trail, but very short. The lake sits in the shadows of Mt. Ida at just over 11,000 feet.

When I visited this lake in September of 2007 the lake ha apparently turned over and had gone from (a reported) crystal blue to a dull shade of green...but still an amazing view!

The only fish I saw in the lake was a "floater". There are a couple of smaller lakes that surround Timber Lake but I saw no fish cruising those either and (again) lost hard drive = lost photos.

I have since made this hike one more time (August 2008) but instead of taking the difficult switchback section I made my way to the meadow by staying in Timber Creek and I stopped just short of the lake itself.

Chris

Green Mountain Trail - Rocky Mountain National Park

This is another of my favorite trails in Rocky Mountain National Park and another I have yet to complete. I've hiked this trail on three occasions but I've only completed the Granite Falls loop, over 10 miles round trip. The other trips were only as far as Big Meadows in search of the outstanding brook trout population.

As with most trail heads in RMNP this one is also over 8,000 feet; at almost 8,800 feet. Also, with these hikes at altitude make sure you hydrate very well to avoid altitude sickness. The trail head is located just inside the Kawuneeche entrance on the west side of RMNP.

The first 1.8 miles to Big Meadows in modestly steep. My younger brother has done this with me twice and Roaring River twice and his opinion is this hike is much worse. I disagree, my opinion is the first half-mile of the Lawn Lake trail is much worse. Regardless of opinion, it's about 600 feet of elevation gain in under two miles.

You never know what type of animals you're going to see during the climb to Big Meadows. I've seen both elk and moose in this area and the constant chatter of the squirrels are sometimes annoying. I ran into this cow and calf moose during an August 2008 hike.

The Big Meadows are a mile-long high meadow, with Tonahutu Creek meandering through it. These photos were taken during my first hike on Green Mountain trail in September, 2006.

Since then the bark beetles have decimated the canopy and well over 50% of the trees on the west side of the park are dead. Nature will recover as it always does, but I would watch for falling timber if the winds pick up.

Once you reach first sight of the meadows, the trail will circle the meadow as you travel the next 3.3 miles on the way to Granite Falls. The trail also levels out at this point as you gain just over 400 feet in elevation over that distance.

As you pass the upper end of Big Meadows, you pick up Tonahutu Creek which you will follow the remainder of the trek to Granite Falls.

This section of the trail is relatively flat but uneven in places. On a solo hike I went down about 3 miles in when I stepped on a root and twisted an ankle. I have bad ankles from many miles of running and many sprains playing basketball when I was younger. My ankle locked out, so (from my back) I popped it back in place and kept on trucking.

The next landmark on the trail is Granite Falls. I'm not sure of the height of Granite Falls but these cascades are impressive.

From Granite Falls it's another 2+ miles to Haynach Lakes or 5 miles back to the trail head. I plan to make the remaining journey to Haynach later this year when I visit again in August.

Granite Falls is a great day hike but prepare for the altitude and once you've beat that first 2 miles, you've got it made. If you go, pack a rod, Tonahutu Creek is absolutely polluted with brook trout!

Chris