Flattop mountain is going to get a visit from us today. Up and walking from the car to the trailhead at 6:50. Our first big notice was the rocky trail today was nothing compared with the rocky trail over at Indian Peaks. Indian Peaks Wilderness area wins the "lots of rocks" trophy! Those trails are big time rocky! Today seemed like a breeze. This is our fourth time up to the top of Flattop Mountain it is 4.5 miles to the top. Today we made it by 2 hours and forty minutes, fastest trip ever. Perhaps some of our speed was due to wanting to create a large space between us and a middle school hiking group of boys. I’m not sure how the two leaders could stand being with that group for very long! In the few encounters we had with them on the trail we found them to be extraordinarily obnoxious. And even that might be overstating the positive… Good news is once we passed them we could keep a good gauge on their location. You could hear them coming from a long ways away. And clearly, I wanted to keep them out of our ear shot. I love kids, but those kids under my care would have been making better choices with language, social skills, trail etiquette and voice level just to name a few things.
We shot a few pictures from the top and watched the groups of people head on over to Hallets Peak. We have made the pilgrimage to Hallets peak twice before and have opted for a new add-on. Ptarmigan Point...not to be confused with Ptarmigan Peak. Ptarmigan Peak is a few mountains over and not close to Flattop. After a few cool pictures of the groups of people heading up to Halletts we headed down the very nice trail over to ptarmigan pass and up to ptarmigan Peak. Here we found some large cairns where the North inlet trails divides from the Tonahutu trail and a large herd of cow elk sunning themselves.
To get to the top of of Ptarmigan Point it is an easy scramble up some large boulders. Simple, Kathi will show you.
On top of the Pt point, we ate a peaceful half of a lunch while watching a group of four hikers pass through the herd of elk while on the Tonahutu Trail. We see the clouds are starting to gain some size along with a darker color so start our scramble down and hike back over to the top of Flattop. By the time we return to Flattop from Ptarmgan Point it was clear that bad weather was moving in, so we needed to move out. As we were high tailing it down to tree line, we met many people ignoring the dark clouds and continued their hike up. Silly people, that is a good place to get hit with lightening!
On our way down, we also encountered several Marmots and Pikas out collecting food. While we were stopped taking a photo of a pika, a hiker guy (yes, one that was heading up even through black clouds are overhead), wanted to know what the little critter was. I told him it was a Pika. He said he thought it was just a mountain mouse… Hmmm, to me it looks like a pretty big mouse, closer to the size of a guinea pig. But mountain mouse sound funny, so I chuckle along with the guy. I give him a freiendly reminder about the weather and head on down the mountain.
11.1 miles 2288 feet of elevation gain today.
Arrived back at the trailhead and talked with a volunteer ranger and found out about another hike we need to do. Hmmmm Get ready for a new hike tomorrow!
Nice little view of Longs Peak with the sun on it. People over there today if they had an early start will have a good shot at getting to the top in good weather. Then scurry down!
This is at the vista where you can look down on to a lake directly below. The pictures down give it justice. Trail sign here says do not climb down to the lake... I'm guessing people have tried and it did not turn out so well. It is a cliff...
This is a nice rocky trail
Tree line tree called krumholtz. You can tell how the wind blows up here as all of the branches are to one side of the tree.
Fair warning!
There is no where to hide up here, just grass and rocks. Do not want to be the tallest object on the mountain.
You can ride horses up to the top. This is the place where you have to get off and walk. No horses today.
Top of Flattop is flat and rocky
Looking over the top of Hallets Peak with Longs peaking out the top. Notice how blue and cloud free the sky is.
Can you see anything on the ridge?
Sort of gives you a feel for the size of things.
Looking towards the west side of the park to Grand Lake
Looking to Ptarmigan Point, our lunch spot. Ptarmigan glacier hangs off the side of the ridge. Well, what is left of the glacier. I think it is no longer actively moving.
Carin marking the North inlet trail
Looking up at the last bit to go up
From the top we take some pictures of the elk
Hikers walking the trail through the elk
Looking back up to Flattop and on up to Hallets Peak
Taken at the top of Ptarmigan Point
The back side of the Point
Looking down Ptarmigan glacier you can see the lakes it has carved out
Bake up top on Flattop after lunch. Notice the clouds have changed in about an hour and a half.
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