2010 July 26 RMNP Flattop Mountain, Hallett’s Peak, Andrews Glacier, Lock Lake, Glacier Basin

2010 Day 10 July 26 RMNP



Flattop Mountain, Hallett’s Peak, Andrews Glacier, Lock Lake, Glacier Basin

Bear Lake with Hallett's Peak in the background

Today proves to be our most favorite but most physical day of this vacation to date. The whole day was sunny skies, some clouds, but no rain today! We had been up to Flat Top Mountain the very first time we were in RMNP. This trip was way better. No wind, great temps, and the physical shape to take on the long 4.4 mile trip to the top of Flattop Mountain. If I remember correctly our last trip up this mountain was a stop and go affair. Stopping every 30 feet and gasping for air beginning at about the 11,000 all the way to 12,300 feet. The views on the trip up were spectacular. We met a group of guys who were planning on going up Longs Peak on Wednesday or Thursday like us. I think perhaps one of them will make it to the top the others were going to be calling an ambulance as they were sucking some serious air. More because of physical shape rather than oxygen available in the air…



Another two some that we met on our trip up, was a father and daughter duo. They had last been up Flattop in 1988 when the daughter was 8; she is now 30. The father was with a cane rather than hiking pole. Father said the roles are reversed this time up Flattop. This time the Daughter was doing the helping and the Father was receiving the help.



One other fellow (we called him Hawaiian Shirt Man) was on this hike. He had lost his job last year and had done 19 different hikes in RMNP. This year he was with a job but had found himself out of shape for hiking. I asked him if that was a good thing or bad thing. He said it was equally good and bad! He loved to hike and take pictures, he also liked to pay his bills and eat and sleep in a home. He truly did have on a very jazzy Hawaiian shirt. This seems like an odd shirt choice for hiking.



We move from our nice little gathering of souls and conversation on Flattop and move to climb up Hallett’s Peak. Not a huge climb. 400 some vertical feet, but is all lovely rock scrambling. On our rock scramble we met yet another couple. Rock scrambling is not a fast activity so you have time to chat while you are looking for your next two or three rocks to step on. This couple was from AZ by way of MI. They were on a whirl wind tour of National Park hiking while celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Now that is my kind of celebration! I was happy to take their picture at the top of Hallett’s with Longs Peak in the back ground. Their hiking celebration plans included a trip up to the Keyhole of Longs Peak, but they had three weeks at RMNP to make sure they had the best weather chance. They were going to be starting at midnight, so they wanted to make sure of the weather before making the attempt. Well, I can understand that logic.

On top of Hallett's Peak with Longs Peak over Kathi's shoulder

We spent a good amount of time on top of Hallett’s Peak enjoying the day, wondering about the cloud cover all while Kathi and I kept a watchful eye. We were watching across where we thought the Andrew’s glacier trail should be. We can see a trail further off to the west, but it is highly unlikely that is the trail to Andrew’s. We were hoping to latch onto anyone else who might be thinking about going down a Glacier today. No one else in this group seems up to the challenge.



We poke slowly down Hallett’s and eat ½ a lunch. While sitting there two very unlikely characters come up over the valley. They poke their way over to us. As we are taking, we find they have just climbed up Andrew’s Glacier and found it in good condition. You just walk straight south. There are a few cairns, and two signs. One sign is for Chaos Glacier; don’t go there it is dangerous! Look for the second sign for Andrew’s Glacier. Can’t miss it the sign it has all sorts of warning on it. It is a pretty flat walk, just head due south. We inquire about the incoming clouds. The tall unlikely character informs us that the clouds we are looking at are good clouds, not rain makers.



Kathi and I pack up and hike off with refreshed vigor! We have been thinking about this hike since our very first time to RMNP. At that point in time, stepping off and just hiking off without a trail was not in our game plan! Today we are armed with GPS, topo and the words from two unlikely characters. All is well with the world. We find a few cairns, I am marking our trail on the gps in case we need to back track. We just keep heading south. We see two people walking towards us. They certainly must have hiked up Andrews. So like two magnets in the middle of a huge outdoor space we head to the couple the couple heads to us. We talk; the husband names all of the surrounding mountains. He points sort of Southey, sort of South- Easty. Andrews’ is just over there… They had climbed up Chaos Canyon and up the glacier. We had heard not to do that as it was very dangerous. Wife with rolling eyes, said her Husband likes the challenge. When we parted ways Kathi and I went over to where they climbed up Chaos Canyon. Whhhoooo baby not a chance we are ever taking that way!



We rock scramble up and over to our south-easty place where we think the Husband pointed. Ya, nooo, we should have just stayed due south, and not done the rock scramble. We would have walked right up to the Andrew’s Glacier sign. We rock scramble back down and walk over to the sign and laugh about extra rock scramble. We read the danger posted on the sign. Geez, Chaos canyon looked way worse and it did not have all of these warnings on the sign.



Next we put on our rain pants as the glacier has snow on it and we might just want to slide on our butts. Once on the glacier we put on our trusty Yak Tracs. To be sure ice crampons would be the better choice, but Yaks Tracs are what we have. Yaks Tracs really come in handy in the WI winter. We are betting with our WI and MN winter backgrounds we will be able to whip this little ole Andrew’s Glacier into submission! You will not find any RMNP rangers suggesting the use of Yaks Tracs. They always say to take crampons.



Kathi and I have a great respect for Glaciers as we have had a personal tour guide up on the Athabasca Glacier in Canada. I don’t want to find myself at the bottom of a crevasse. Although still active I don’t think there are any crevasses on Andrews. Kathi and I start heel stepping and switch backing our way carefully down the glacier. There is a beautiful lake at the bottom of this glacier and we do not want to end up losing control and sliding down the glacier ending up in the drink. I can only imagine the lake to be really cold. Or perhaps we could lose control and slide into the large rock moraine to the right side. Either of those options did not sound too pleasant. We heel step switch back it to a part were Kathi believes it would be a really fun idea to sit down and slide until you get to the run out. Hmm well ok, so she just sits down and off she goes. The first fifteen feet she gained so much speed and was bumping along so big. I was wondering how she was managing to not tip over! I stood and while taking pictures contemplated what her stopping plan was… I don’t think she had one. Before long she came to a nice stop and got up with a big smile. Wondering what she gets for style points? I think her stopping plan might have been that she just believed she would run out of speed due to the shape of the glacier.



When it is my turn I go down past the bumpy part and shorten my hiking poles so I can drag them for stop ability. This is my stopping plan! In truth it was a good plan if your intentions are to get full of icy snow. The dragging of the poles sent little icy crystals into any little spot I did not have zipped or buttoned down. Some of those little spots I did not find until they had melted and were now cold and wet.



We laugh at our little adventure and head toward the large rock pile. Once on the rock pile it takes us about 20 minutes to get safely off of the rock pile and back to the safety of the glacier. Those were the most unstable pile of rocks we had ever been on. It was really hard to decide when to get off of the glacier not knowing how far under the glacier the lake was and how much was going to break off and go into the drink. We walked to the bottom of the glacier and walked around Andrew’s Tarn (fancy name for a lake). The next .9 miles are the most grueling and difficult of the whole trip as we had to find the washed out trail through a very rocky canyon. Perhaps this .9 mile all by itself would not be so bad, but as part of this day they make the biggest impact on our bodies. Namely knees!



We are about 200 yards down the trail, when all of a sudden the valley is filled with the sounds of boys laughing, yelling, yahooing. A troop of 18 boy scouts were all coming down the glacier. They had no stopping plan, no plan of being careful, just wild, unabated, rapturous, enjoyable sliding. I’m sure the thought of falling into the lake or crashing into the rock pile was never on their minds. Kathi and I stood and watched with our jaws hanging open. Our trip was not near as visually euphoric. We were very respectful of the power of nature. Our joy was the inner joy of achieving a long sought after goal. Oh heck, it was fun to stand and watch those kids!



Back to scrambling down the .9 trail. We met two groups. First we met a couple that said they saw us coming down the glacier and wanted to come up and see for themselves. Both Kathi and I said they must have seen the boy scouts. Nope, they had heard the Boy Scouts coming down while they were in the trees coming up the trail. But they had seen two people coming down Andrews Glacier from way across Lock Lake. Ok, well that was us. We were the quiet respectful twosome  The second group we met was a Boy Scout troop of 3 boys and 3 Dad’s. They are from Indiana and are on a week long journey in RMNP. We chat. They are going to be camping at the base of the glacier and will climb it tomorrow so they can slide down it. Then off to another location in the park. They are going to be working their way up to Long’s Peak. We say our goodbye’s and get back to the bone rattling scramble down the .9 mile section.

Switch backing

Danger sign

I think I should slide!

Kathi stopped on the bottom.

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Penny's plan!

Back on the snow and around the rock pile.

Steep!

Rough trail ahead

Wild rapture!

Once at the end of this .9 section we still have another 2.7 miles to get back to a trailhead to take the shuttle bus to the park and ride.



It was a great day!

We have a Jacuzzi at the cabin. We are going to need a good long bubble tonight!



9 hours, 2833 calories burned, 3238 feet of elevation gained, we get up to 12713 feet above sea level. 99.6 total miles hiked