green lake – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 8.59 miles

Elevation Gain: 2897’

I was a little leery of doing Mount Owen after hearing about the private property issues with landowners. So, I did my best to plan my route with CalTopo to avoid private property. I didn’t see any private property signs while hiking so I’m fairly sure this route avoids trespassing. In any event, I did see hunters out there as well.

I started from a dispersed campsite just past Lake Irwin. It’s a dirt road to get there but I saw several sedans in the parking areas. There are several dispersed sites here, and this one had a porta potty. They have signs stating only to camp in designated sites but I’ve seen people park at the lake or along the road.

I followed 4WD road 826 1D north for about 3/10ths of a mile from my site.

Just before coming to the first house I left the road and headed west to avoid hiking on private property.

This first part is a little tricky because I did not go the obvious way (and believe me, there is an obvious way, but there are signs stating you can’t use the road if you don’t live there). It was frustrating going up and over small hills I could have easily avoided and heading further east than was necessary. Here’s an overview of my approach:

As I was heading east I was looking for a small gully to ascend.

When I made it to the gully I ascended it, heading northwest to 11175’

At 11175’ I headed northeast and followed the mountainside at this elevation. There were several strong game trails, and one took me all the way around the side of the mountain.

I continued following a game trail north, parallelling the 4WD road below. This eventually brought me to the base of Mount Owen, and an old mining road.

Once on the road I turned left and followed it west. This road hasn’t been used by vehicles for a long time. In many places there’s just a trail over talus and rockfall, but it’s very easy to follow. You can clearly see how the road goes all the way to the saddle. You can follow it to the saddle or take a game trail to the saddle and avoid the switchbacks.

I chose to avoid the switchbacks and head straight to the saddle. There were game trails here and some scree to navigate, but it was only about 100’ of elevation gain to the saddle.

Once on the saddle I turned right and followed a game trail northeast up to the ridge and then all the way to the summit. There was some scree here, but it was all class 2 with one class 3 move that could have been avoided by going to the left. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the trail was to follow.

Once on the ridge I followed the ridge proper most of the way to the summit. The trail is obvious. Mount Owen is the peak to the left.

Here are some pictures of the ridge

The avoidable class 3 move. Just go to the left to stay on class 2 terrain.

I summited Mount Owen at 9:10am. Notice how clear the sky is?

Mount Owen:

This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned and headed back down the ridge to the saddle of Ruby and Owen.

Once back at the saddle you can choose to climb Ruby Peak, a ranked 12er, but I’d already climbed this peak, so instead I descended back into the basin down the scree and hiked the road back down to 11500’.

At 11500’ I left the road and headed south around the ridge. There’s a good game trail here.

As I rounded the ridge I tried to stay high to avoid private property. I didn’t go lower than 11175’ until I made it to the gully.

When I made it to the gully/drainage I followed the drainage southeast until 10550’, then headed east back to the road. This is also when I heard a big clap of thunder. Around 10:30am the skies opened up and it started raining. At this point I was cursing the extra mileage avoiding private property was giving me (no, it wasn’t actually a lot, but it meant route finding in the trees which took time), and the weather forecast not calling for rain until after noon.

Back on the dirt road I followed it south back to my truck

I made it back to my truck at 10:30am, making this an 8.59 mile hike with 2897’ of elevation gain in 4 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

RT Length: 17.74 miles

Elevation Gain: 4544’

I started from the Glacier Gorge trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park at 3:30am. There were already several parties in the parking lot (probably 10 vehicles), but didn’t see another person on my route all day. This is also a bus stop for access to Glacier Gulch (and lots of other hikes). All this means is that it was overly crowded the last 2 miles of the hike on my way down. Passing people became impossible, and more of a stroll as I hiked out with hundreds of other hikers.

I followed the class 1 trail, staying on the Mills Lake trail. There were wonderful signs that made getting lost difficult.

I passed Alberta Falls at 1.15 miles, and continued following the trail to Mills Lake

After hiking for 3.35 miles I passed Mills Lake, and at 3.85 miles I passed Jewel Lake. Side note: there’s great fishing here. Lots of hungry trout, eager to feast on any worm you drop in. The larger trout are in the stream above Jewel Lake, and in Mills Lake.

I continued following the class 1 trail all the way to Black Lake (6 miles in). This part of the trail had a lot of wood foot bridges, and rock slabs to cross. All class 1, but the rock slabs were tricky to navigate in the dark.

I made it to Black Lake, and continued on the class 1 trail, up a waterfall, and across more rock slabs.

This is where my report may differ from others. I took a different route in than I did out at this point, and liked my route out better. It was easier to follow, and there were less willows/shrubs involved. Here’s the overall picture of what I did. There is a cairn circled in red, indicating the route to McHenry’s Peak. Don’t take that route, but leave the trail and head behind the bush. You will then easily see cairns that will guide you through the upper basin.

Once again, there is no established trail to Green Lake, but there are some tramped game trails (all covered in grass, not much dirt to be seen) and lots of cairns. This is also choose your own adventure. You’re aiming south, towards the mountains (circled in red). There are several small streams to cross in this area, all easily hop-able.

I navigated a bit to the right of the waterfall to get to Green Lake (cairns here too)

Once at Green Lake, I turned left and headed southeast. Here’s my overall route on scree, navigating around large boulders and rock slabs to keep this all class 2.

Here are some close-up pictures of my route up the gully, to the saddle

Once at the saddle, I turned right and headed up the ridge. I went directly up the ridge on the way up, which was class 3. I kept it class 2 on the way down by staying more to the left of the ridge.

Here are some pictures of the ridge.

I summited Pagoda Mountain at 9am. There was a plastic tube at the summit as a register, lacking a lid, but with a ziplock bag inside. I didn’t bother opening it.

Pagoda Mountain:

I had a great view of the Longs Peak keyhole route

Now to re-trace my steps back to the saddle, before the storm hit

And back down the scree to Green Lake

Once back at Green Lake, I turned right and followed the cairns north out of the basin

This time I went behind the rocks and picked up the old trail, circled in red

Then followed the trail all the way back to the trailhead. It started raining just as soon as I made it to treeline, accompanied by a flash of lightning, a loud boom, and a wide rumbling all around me.