Sunday's big hike in RMNP

Today, we again decided to head to the high country to avoid the near 100 degree heat in the Front Range. Today we'd head up Highway 7 again, but this time to hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. We've lived here long enough to learn the tricks, like don't go to Estes Park between Memorial Day and Labor Day. So with that in mind, we hit up the lesser known/traveled Wild Basin entrance to get up to Ouzel Lake.

A pretty long, tough hike of about 10 miles and 2,000 feet. This would be one of our longer hikes period, and definitely the longest we've been on this spring/summer season. Along the way we would pass a variety of notable places such as Copeland Falls, Calypso Cascade, Ouzel Falls and finally arrive at Ouzel Lake.

So some pics of the various sights along the way:









Calypso Cascade was impressive, much more so than my pics can convey


Views of Long's Peak to the north


Ouzel Falls


Our ultimate destination


Self portrait


Ouzel Lake sits in the valley of these three peaks


The one funny moment came when we were looking for a spot to have a snack. There was a big rock exposed in the lake, but sat about 4 or 5 feet from the shore. I was confident I could jump to it, and after some negotiations with Jill I went for it.

Splash? Nope, my mad hops propelled me straight to it. I then tried to get Jill to come over, but she didn't think she could make it. So I hopped back across to figure out a way to get her across. I found a 3 or 4 inch diameter log that was just the right length and stretched it across the watery gap. A couple of quick tests and I was ready for the full test. Just as Jill said "I don't that will hold you" the log snapped and I was submerged to the waist in the iceberg cold water in the high alpine lake. Oops. Eventually I got Jill to come across, and we sat together on the rock as my shoes/socks dried out.



Two days, two high country activities and quite a few laughs this weekend.