RT Length: 20.7 miles
Elevation Gain: 5309’
I’m going to do my best to keep this class 2/2+ here. I made it unnecessarily class 3 in areas, but they can be avoided. I started at the Wild Basin Trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park. I was on the trail at 4am. The beginning of the trail is obvious.
I’m not going to detail the approach to Bluebird Lake, as I’ve already done that in previous reports and the trail is class 1 trail the entire way. Just follow the signs towards Bluebird Lake. If Bluebird Lake isn’t on the sign, follow the one that says Ouzel Lake. The signs say it’s 6.4 miles to Bluebird Lake.
Now the fun begins! The class 1 trail that got me to Bluebird Lake stopped at Bluebird Lake.
I was able to find some faint game trails here, but like I said, they were faint. This was my next objective, a ramp in the distance:
And my overall route to get there.
I was able to keep this class 2, but there are class 3 options. First, I descended down to the lake, then ascended a class 2 ramp. There’s an easy class 3 ramp here as well.
At the top of the ramps was a trail for a short distance heading west.
This is the route I took to get to Lark Pond, aiming for a ramp in the distance
And some step-by-step pictures
Now at Lark Pond, I stayed to the right of the pond to get to Pipit Lake. There weren’t any trails here.
Yay! Pipit Lake!
I skirted the left side of the lake, heading towards the grassy gully. This involved rock hopping on stable rock.
If you’re following my GPX file, you’ll note I ascended to the left on the rocky area. I wouldn’t recommend this, as it’s extremely steep. I ended up gravitating towards the rocks to avoid the steepness of the scree, and got into sketchy class 3 territory (lots of very lose rocks the size of bowling balls on top and around larger rocks, forming small, unstable gullies). Instead, this can be kept class 2 by taking the grassy gully up.
Once at the top of the grassy gully I turned left, and ascended the slope. Yes, it’s steep. This is class 2+, but luckily there isn’t a lot of scree. Instead, these rocks are fairly stable (still check your footing for loose rocks). This is also choose your own adventure. The entire slope goes. It’s about 1200’ of elevation gain from Pipit Lake to the ridge.
At the top of the rock slope I turned left, and walked the short distance to the summit of unranked Ouzel Peak
I summited Ouzel Peak at 9:15am
Ouzel Peak:
To the south I could see Ogalalla Peak.
This was an easy tundra trek of about 1.5 miles. First, I descended to the Ouzel/Ogalalla saddle
Then I followed the ridge as I ascended about 670’ to the summit
The final push to the summit was rocky, but class 2
I summited Ogalalla Peak at 10am
Ogalalla Peak:
This was an out and back hike for me, so I retraced my steps back to Ouzel Peak
Then it was navigating the rocks and heading back down the gully to Pipit Lake
At Pipit Lake I skirted the lake to the right, and headed back towards Lark Pond
I stayed to the left of Lark Pond
Then looked for the ramp I’d used to on my way in
Now to make it back to the trail. Here’s the overall route I took
I went down the class 3 ramp this time, facing forward, without too much difficulty.
Then crossed the stream and headed back up to the trail
It was now a class 1 hike 6.4 miles back to the Wild Basin Trailhead. There were plenty of signs indicating the way
I made it back to the trailhead at 3pm, making this a 20.7 mile hike with 5309’ of elevation gain in 11 hours.
On to the next trailhead!
Wild Wanderer 