RT Length: 21.79 miles
Elevation Gain: 5665’
I parked at the Wild Basin Trailhead inside Rocky Mountain National Park and was on the trail at 4am. There’s plenty of parking here, but they have timed entry from 9am-2pm every day.
The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area
I followed the signs for Ouzel Lake/Bluebird Lake. This class 1 trail is really well marked, so it’s difficult to get lost if you read the signs. I passed several waterfalls (Copeland Falls, Calypso Falls, and Ouzel Falls).
After hiking for 4.75 miles I came to the junction for Ouzel Lake and Bluebird Lake. I turned right onto the Bluebird Lake Trail.
I didn’t stay on this trail long however. Maybe about 10 yards or so. Then I left the trail and headed northeast to gain the ridge
This is where I startled a moose. He was about 15 feet away from me when I saw him, so I quickly ducked behind a large boulder. Usually, moose run away when they see you, or ignore you, but this guy seemed interested in me. I’ve seen probably over a hundred moose in Colorado, and I’ve only been charged once. This guy looked like he wanted to charge me, so I remained hidden. For a solid 15 minutes, every time I peeked out from behind the boulder, he was still staring at the boulder I’d hidden behind. I know moose have poor eyesight, so while he knew I was still there, he was probably trying to figure out if I were a threat or not. (That’s Chickadee Pond in the background).
Eventually I crawled away on my hands and knees so he couldn’t see me in the brush, and continued my way up the ridge. This included a lot of bushwhacking through downed trees. A lot of downed trees.
Once I made it to the ridge, I followed it west to treeline
The route from here was straightforward. I stayed o the ridge, following it west. The terrain started out as loose rocks, then changed to tundra.
When you get to the tundra, don’t be fooled: this is a false summit. Stay to the left of it
This is the true summit of Manaha Peak. It’s easy class 2 to get there
I summited Mahana Peak at 9am
Mahana Peak:
From Mahana Peak, I could see Isolation Peak to the northwest
To get there, I headed northeast along the ridge until I came to a low point, and then headed northwest towards the ridge.
This is the overall route I took to gain the ridge of Isolation Peak. If you look carefully, you will see a green band of grass that makes the route easy to follow. I descended on rocky terrain, then was greeted with tundra, then rocky tundra as I ascended.
Once on the ridge, I turned left and could see Isolation Peak to the southwest. This was a class 2 hike, sticking to game trails either directly on or to the left of the ridge, until the last 10 feet or so, when it was a quick class 3 scramble to the summit
I’m pretty sure this block is the summit. I sat on it, but briefly. Pictures/video were difficult. The summit rocks didn’t feel stable, and I could see through them to air below if I looked down.
I summited Isolation Peak at 10:30am
Isolation Peak:
Here’s looking back at Mahana Peak from Isolation Peak
If you’re not up for class 3-4 scrambling, now’s the time to head back the way you came in, towards Mahana. It’s the fastest route. If you’re up for some scrambling, strap on your helmet if you haven’t already, and head northeast along the ridge. Some of this ridge I’d consider choose your own adventure. This is the route I took, keeping it class 3, with some easy class 4 scrambling (down chimneys/gullies).
I was now back to where I ascended the ridge, and followed the ridge northeast. There is a lot of elevation gain and loss on this descent
I went to the right of this boulder. Getting through was sketchy class 3. The boulders were large, but there was a lot of empty space between them, and they didn’t feel solid.
My next objective was to make it here (this was class 2, sticking to the ridge)
This is where it got a bit tricky. I turned left, and descended into a rather large and steep gully. I spent a lot of time in this gully route finding, and my advice is to stick to the gully proper until you make it down to 12160’. You’re trying to go below this rock formation, which goes a lot further down than you’d think.
I turned left, and descended into the gully
I came to a place that looked like it cliffed out, but it was really just a drop onto a boulder, then a 7-foot downclimb.
Here’s looking back up at the gully
And a look at the final drop. The boulder in the middle was essential to the descent.
This was at about 12160’, where I stopped descending the gully, and looked for a grassy ledge climbers right.
I made it to the ledge, descended another grassy ledge, then reascended a grassy ledge to re-gain the ridge
For those of you doing this the opposite way, here’s a look back at the grassy ledge I descended. You can see why I had to drop down so low in the gully, with the sheer cliff face to navigate.
Here’s how I got around the next few obstacles
And that was it for the climbing for today. I kept my helmet on because I still had a scree-gully to descend, but all the class 3 and 4 stuff was done. I’d wanted to head over to Mt Alice today too, but clouds were forming and I didn’t think it was a good idea. I headed towards Boulder-Grand Pass, turned right, and descended the gully towards Lake of Many Winds. From the pass, it was 9.5 miles back to the trailhead.
A good trail picks up here, and leads all the way back to the Wild Basin Trailhead. Here you can see Thunder Lake. This trail becomes the Thunder Lake Trail, skirting the lake to the left. This is a class 1 trail. Once again, it’s very well marked, with signs indicating the route back to the Wild Basin Trailhead
I made it back to the trailhead at 4:45pm, making this a 21.79 mile hike with 5665’ of elevation gain in 12 hours, 45 minutes, at least according to CalTopo. Strava gave me drastically different numbers
On to the next trailhead!
Wild Wanderer 