2010 July 30 Hiking Black Lake & Blue Lake

Longs Peak in the background with nice blue skies. 

2010 July 30 Last Day of Hiking Black Lake & Blue Lake


We made the decision not to go up to Longs Peak last night after our call to the ranger’s station. Wouldn’t you know it when we get up at 6 am the sky is a startling BLUE. Where are all of the low hanging clouds that we have had all week? I can laugh now, but I bet the neighboring cabins were all wondering why someone might be speaking the phase “What! Blue Sky!! Are You Kidding Me!!!” “Speaking the phrase”, might seem to mean that we were speaking in regular early morning tones. I think the tones were louder, more like if you needed to hear it over the roar of let’s say and jet a engine….

Mill's Lake

At this point we are committed to going to Black Lake as a bid for Longs Peak would have had to start 4 or 5 hours ago. We eat breakfast and are to the park and ride by 7:20. We have been up to Black Lake both times we visited RMNP and were rained on both times. Our track record is not so good. With these blue skies perhaps we will actually get to see Black Lake for longer than 45 seconds. The bus is full of great conversation and even better we all have a seat! Guess who is on the bus. Well it is Mr. Hawaiian shirt man. We met him on Hallett’s Peak day. He wanted to know about our trip up to Longs. So we told him about the keyhole and the clouds and the turn back. He was sorry to hear we did not make it, but admitted he would have never gotten that far. Today he was going to go up to Black Lake, Green Lake and then around over to Frozen Lake. Hey, what luck we are going to Black Lake and then over to Blue Lake. Good, we will have company on this trip.

Rushing creek that lead up to Glacier Basin

Another couple was looking for a good half day hike. Today they were headed up to Loch Lake. So after a few suggestions they were ready to go. One guy and his wife were new to hiking and they wanted to know what they could pack for lunches that would not suffer from banging around in a pack or spoil. Hey, you know I am an authority on packing food! By the time we left the trailhead we had spent 20 minutes chatting with all of these people. We finally start our way down the trail with a couple that had left their home in early May with a camper behind their truck. Since early May they had been to almost every National Park up the West Coast, up into Canada, down the Canadian Rockies and were finishing up in RMNP. The biggest thing they had learned is to narrow the list of destinations on their trip. They said they only had time to see a couple great things at all of those parks and really needed to stay longer and squeeze the wonders out at a slower pace. I like how the lady stated that phase. As I remember Kathi and I started this hiking thing about ten years ago and we also tried to go to too many places. Narrow the sites and squeeze the wonders.

Ok, we have to get going! So we say good-bye and wish them well. We hike off at a faster pace and get about 100 yards further up the trail before we find Mr. and Mrs. Newbie Hikers stopped on the trail. Mrs. Newbie has a monster blister on her heel. She is sitting on a rock with her shoe and sock off. Part of her blister wrap is in her hands and part is still stuck to her skin. Blisters, yeah, I am an authority on them too! Ok, we went through supplies and how to prepare the blister sight. We reviewed what you are trying to do when applying mole skin to a blistered area. (Then you should also pray to God to give you the answer, because sometimes He just moves that mole skin to a spot you have never considered and you have no further issues with blisters… ) And take some Advil or Aleve; it absolutely takes the edge off of it. Just so you can be prepared for your next hiking trip, put Gorilla Tape on the back sides of your heels and you will not have any problems. I’m telling you the things you learn when you are hiking are amazing. There is so much to learn, so little time. We ask if she would like us to help cut up some mole skin and help any further, but she said she was going to give it a go. We gave her some Advil and wished her well.

Back to the business of hiking.

We keep playing leap frog with a German Couple from Dallas. Since we keep stopping, they get a chance to past. Every time we get caught up, Mr. German Man says something funny like 10 points for you. Funny Guy! They like to escape the heat of Dallas during the summer so they head to the mountains to hike. As we are chatting and hiking we met our Indiana Boy Scout troop. So we stop again and chat. They were down one boy and Father due to a hamstring injury. The remaining four had gone up and camped at the Boulder Field Campground. They were up there the night of the hail storm. The hail did not last an hour up there, but it did last long enough. I guess their tents stood up pretty well to the beating. One set of Father and Son made it to the top of Longs and the other set decided the Boulder Field was nothing they wanted to tackle. It was nice each set of Father and Sons were happy with their own adventure. They wanted some suggestions for great places to eat. Hey, we are authorities on that too! We say our good -byes and get back to hiking. Finally at Mills Lake we shoot some pictures eat a light snack and get going. We have a long way back to Black Lake. Jewel Lake is next, what a wonderful Moose habitat. It is too bad that there are no moose on this side of RMNP. Well, they should ship some over, because they would be really happy at Jewell.

A look down to Black Lake

The sky is changing to from no clouds to some lovely puffy things floating through. We arrive at Black Lake after collecting 10 more points from the German couple! We are greeted at Black Lake with a welcoming horrid of mosquitoes. We stop long enough to have half a lunch and slather on the bug juice. We now are going to step on a trail at Black Lake that we never have seen. In our past two times to this Lake we were chased out by storms. So far only puffy white clouds are in the sky. We go up and over a large rock and around a tree and are greeted with the most amazing 400 foot cascading waterfalls. It was very delightful and we never knew it was here. We follow the trail up the 400 feet and step into this large basin with Long’s Peak right in front of our eyes. Ohh, I tell Kathi that I think it is really windy up there and the people have to turn back! She says she thinks I am lying…

Black Lake

We follow the creek up through the basin and our directions say that when the creek turns right we should turn left. Of course we consider taking out the topo map and gps. Then in the distance we see Mr. Hawaiian Shirt man bobbing over the crest. He said he was going to go to Green Lake. He must have decided to go to Blue Lake first. He was with two other fellows so perhaps they were teaming up and planning to go to Blue, Green and Frozen Lake. Well, no worries, we just bush whack it up to where we saw Mr. Hawaiian shirt man peak over the crest and astonishingly there is Blue Lake. We sit and enjoy the other half of our lunch. Sun is shining and we are rewarded with a wonderful day.

About 15 minutes into our wonderful ½ lunch we turn to see the nice puffy clouds getting darker and bigger. Ok, we know what that means. Pack up and get bushwhacking. All the way down the basin and past Black lake we are taking in the sights. We will most definitely come back here and do some further hiking in this basin! Slowly it starts to sprinkle, but with how dark the clouds have become we suit up in full gear. Within a few minutes it is raining harder. Then it is raining so hard and fast I am sure it must be hailing. Then the lightning and thunder start. You know when you see lightning and then start counting “one one thousand, two one thousand and so on until you hear the thunder. This gives you a good gage on how far away the lightning strikes are. To my exact counting tool we would count “on… “ ! There was no time for one -one thousand! I think my hair might have been standing up due to the electricity in the valley, but with it raining so darn hard it was hard to tell. Kathi found some sort of hiking speed just short of sonic. I’m am running to keep up, but with all of the rocks, tree trunks, up and downs of the trail, along with trying to see in the heavy rain with my hood on, it is all I can do to keep this flashing of red rain coat sort of in view. There was never thought of rain repellency for our boots. I was thinking more about trying not to be struck by lightening. Did you know there are three factors for attacking a lightning strike…tallest, biggest, and pointiest? We were shooting for: shortest, smallest and roundest. I think Kathi was throwing in “fastest” just to be on the safe side!

Blue Lake with the gathering storm clouds

When we were running past Jewel Lake it would have been a great picture to take to help tell this story. The rain hitting the lake was quite an interesting sight. It looked like it was raining up out of the lake to meet the rain coming down from the sky. I suppose this was due in large part to how hard it was raining. What a memory. This would have been interesting to stand and watch, but not only was I trying to keep up with the sonic like red rain- coated Kathi in front of me, I was also trying to look short, small and round!

We finally either run out and away from where the storm was hanging or the storm has monsoon’ed itself into a slower more reasonable rain. At this point we start to realize all of the other people who had been streaking down the same trail as Kathi and I. You can feel the sigh of relief from all of the trail runners that we are out of the worst of it. The look of stress recedes from our faces. The rain slows to a sprinkle and by the time we reach Alberta Falls, yep, you guessed it, the sun is shining. We take off our rain coats and backpack covers, shake off the water, and start walking the last two miles of our adventure.

We board the shuttle bus along with many other rain victims. We share some stories and have a good laugh over counting the flashes and booms. One person adds a comment about ‘that was lightning?’ He had thought it was his life flashing in front of his eyes… Ahh, another day in the Mountains; another adventure comes to an end.

7 hours, 1865 elevation gained, 11.5 miles hiked, 2053 calories burned, Total miles hiked on this adventure 140.3

As always I learned a few things on this trip:

1) RMNP has a Monsoon season

2) National Parks are very busy in late July.

3) Put a plastic bag inside your pack and put your clothes inside the garbage bag. Because no matter how much you tried to water proof your backpack, stuff in the pack will get wet in a down pour.

4) Using a topo map and gps can save time when it is not clear where you should be hiking. Even if stopping to get the topo map out is not convenient.

Packing up and leaving the cabin

5) Lastly, always follow the directions on how many applications of water repellent to put on your boots!





I hope you have enjoyed this virtual hike. Kathi and I certainly enjoy putting in the leg work!