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| Hiking | 10.55 Miles |
2,785 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.55 Miles | 5 Hrs 45 Mns | | 2.01 mph |
| 2,785 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The original plan was to hike to Flattop Mountain from Bear Lake, but in view of snow in higher elevations discovered the day before I reconsidered and replanned it to be a loop hike from Park&Ride to Bierstadt and Sprague Lakes. Upon arriving to Park&Ride in the morning I found that shuttle bus operation has been extended to run this weekend. So I revised the plan again to go up to Bierstadt Lake then down to Bierstadt trailhead and then turn it to one way via Boulder Brook and North Longs Peak trails to Bear Lake with taking the shuttle back down to the Park&Ride.
Upper two thirds of Upper Bierstadt Moraine trail was covered with snow, almost nobody at the lake itself. On the way down to Bierstadt trailhead the show was replaced with quite a lot of people going up. Glacier Creek had good waterflow so I spent some time on the bridge. Then went to the 5-way junction with Boulder Brook trail and saw some people around it. Soon after starting going up along Boulder Brook I found the trail covered with snow and only then I finally looked at the topo map and to my surprise the highest point of this hike was at about 10400'. So I thought: "Why am I doing this, why didn't I stay below and go to Sprague Lake and then up to Bear Lake along Glacier Creek?" and then I thought "Well, it's to slippery to go down this steep snowy trail and there are crowds down there and nobody here", so I just continued going up. After the trail diverted from the creek and became less steep, my effort level returned from extra to normal and I found that white solitude very much enjoyable. At the junction with North Longs Peak trail I turned right, crossed the creek by a massive wooden bridge and continued with a smooth descent. Just before the junction with Loch Vale trail I heard some voices and thought that somebody was ahead of me on the trail, but it turned out that there are some camping spots by the trail there that were occupied.
The Loch Vale trail section between this junction and Alberta Falls was the slowest as the snow was packed to ice and required very careful steps. Some people were going up with huge backpacks, probably with camping gear, while the night temperatures were supposed to be below freezing. Starting from Alberta Falls and all the way to Bear Lake there were crowds of people and no snow or ice on the trail. After reaching Bear Lake I had some spare time, so I went around the lake in the wrong direction. The trail have seen lots of people with children, so most benches along the trail were occupied by little snowpeople. |
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