But it’s cold at night in the Rockies! And we woke up to a few intermittent showers… Booooooo.
Undaunted, or rather emboldened by our great luck so far, we packed up the RV, loaded up our hiking packs, and headed over to the hiking shuttle anyhow.
But today we were planning to hike a mountain!!
Flattop Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. 12,325 feet above sea level. 9 miles round trip. At least 20% to 30% grade the whole way. Half the hike above the tree line. Certainly no 13,000, or even 14,000 footer, but still, a pretty formidable mountain… So we figured we should talk to one of the volunteers about the weather.
According to the forecast, it isn’t supposed to rain until this evening, he says. But this is the Rockies… And he points out the small shower we are standing in.
This could be fun…
The lady at the trailhead was an even bigger help… Oh you’ll be fine, unless you are above the tree line and see a storm coming. Then you wanna get down fast. Don’t want to get struck by lightning…
No, we certainly do not…
At Bear Lake, Elevation 9,725 feet or so, we began our hike. Or, should I say, climb… I soon fell into a quick turnover walking rhythm which felt good. It also felt like we were walking ridiculously slow, but at least it was a pace that allowed us to hike a long ways without our legs immediately feeling tired... And we had all day to do it. So we stopped a bunch along the way to eat a snack or take in the views…
Along the way we would pass a few people and get passed by a few people. A couple ladies commented on the weather as we passed. (There hadn’t been a hint of rain since we started… Go figure) Another group was stopped at an overlook having lunch, which seemed pretty appetizing at the time.
As we reached the edge of the treeline, we came upon a couple who we’ll call Abigail & Jerome for the purpose of the story. Halfway through the hike, Jerome was hurting, taking a break on a rock, with Abigail a little bit farther up the trail, taking in the view. We said our standard hiker hellos and kept on going.
Farther up, we stopped for a few more views and lunch. We had to hike a little bit to find a spot on the mountain that wasn’t too windy. As soon as we were out of the cover of the trees, the winds gusts had gotten pretty heavy…
Towards the end of our lunch, Abigail and Jerome made their way past us. Another round of hellos. But we noticed that they stopped 100 yards or so further up to rest again.
We finished lunch and started on. And this last stretch turned out to be the most grueling of the hike. A steep grade, with cold wind blowing against us, the whole way up. One gentleman, on his way down, decided to be helpful and tell us that we were almost to the corner and then it was just a long straight to the top. Of course we later wanted to kill this man for making it seem like we were so much closer than we were…
Soon we passed Abigail and Jerome again. Laboring, but still making their way up the trail. Then a group of guys passed us on their way down, looking very pleased to be doing so. Then a group with one lady who decided to tell us that there were 40 mph winds at the top. Although she seemed kinda miffed when Megs only replied with a, thanks. I was only trying to warn you, she says. I guess Megs needs to work on her people skills?
Then, finally, we had reached the top, and found out why they call it Flattop Mountain…
And it was ridiculously windy. We battled the wind to get pictures, but then hunkered down behind some boulders to relax and I ate my second lunch. Megs attempted a little nap…
But there really wasn’t much protection to be had. So, having had our fill, we decided it was time to begin the long trek down. Except, we realized we hadn’t seen Abigail and Jerome yet… Got a little worried for them. We came over the crest of the summit and found them 100 yards or so down the slope. The weather ladies had already stopped to talk to them so we figured we’d do the same.
Abigail and Jerome were exhausted. Apparently this was their first day at elevation… So we commiserated with them, telling them about how our first day at the Great Sand Dunes had been rough on us as well. We assured them that they were indeed moments from the top and that it was definitely worth it. Said our goodbyes and continued down. Nice people. Glad they made it!
Of course, just as we left them and started down, we noticed a few snowflakes flurrying by in the wind… So we got to climb a mountain, and experience 4 seasons in one day! Bonus!
By the time we got back to Bear Lake, we were ready to be done with walking downhill. In some ways it’s tougher than going up… We were begging for some flat land, or even an uphill for that matter. But we made it and hopped on the shuttle. Back to the RV for a little relaxing.
Can’t stop, won’t stop! There was still another whole half of the park to check out! And, what was more, a long windy scenic road through the mountains to get there. Some amazing views of the mountains in the park. Made us feel good that we had just today hiked as high as a bunch of them. I was obviously concentrating on not driving us off the edge of the roads, but Megs was able to take a few pics…
Brakes smelling wonderful, sun setting, we pulled into the Big Timber Campground on the West side of the park. Although there wasn’t really any timber around to speak of… Unfortunately, this was the area hit the hardest by the beetle virus. But, a herd of caribou was ambling its way through the campground as we settled down at our site! We picked up some wood to have a fire, but by the time we had talked to significant others and the mother and had dinner, we agreed that we were exhausted and the fire could wait for some other time…
Plus the plan for the next day was another hike before heading out of the park towards Wyoming and South Dakota!
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