CDT Day 1: Rocky Mountain National Park loop

 Bright and early in the morning Ben and I hoisted our packs and set off to hike the 27 miles of the Rocky Mountain National Park Loop, a long grind up to 12,250’ atop Flat Top Mountain and back down the other side. RMNP is tough to get permits to camp in, hence the long day, but because we were returning to the same hostel for the night we only needed to carry a single day’s essentials. 

We were greeted by the first of many marmots lounging on rocks in the morning sun. Shadowcliff is perched on an outlook overlooking the town, and what was a kicker at the end of the day to climb up to delivered us almost right to the door of Rocky. The first stretch was along a flat nice dirt road, and I kidded Ben about the CDT being much easier than he described.

A walk in the Park

We passed a National Park Trail Crew getting geared up (memories) to go clear what we would find were a veritable forest of blowdowns across the trail. We also saw a couple of moose peacefully browsing in the riparian area right next to the trail. 

Moose! Moose!

Indeed, before we had gone 4 miles we had seen 4 moose! The 3rd and 4th moose actually got on the trail in front and behind us in short succession, and we had to stop and step into the bushes to let them pass, and follow slowly as they ambles down the track. 

Following us

One scrambled up a steep scree field, and we kept a wary eye on the cliff at the top lest the moose fall back down upon us and make a mess for the Trail Crew to clean up. 

Soon after we came to a waterfall, and it turned out to be Ben’s first waterfall of the trail! A beautiful spot. 

Waterfall!

On a side note, as we got back on the trail I noted yet again the quality of the trail-work in a masterful example of cribbing, armoring, and turnpike construction. Acadia may have the best rock-work in the Parks Service, but Rocky Mountain has got to be up there, and impressive how far in and high up so much of it is. I was noticing that all throughout the loop.

Excellent trailwork

We then got to the climb, where it started to switchback for climbing 3,000’ in 6 miles. As I climbed I realized how much more I should have worked on my cardio in the preceding months, exacerbated by how thin the air is at 10,000’, and I started to wonder not for the first time why I was putting myself through this. 

Up up up

I caught up to Ben at the first small snowfield we had to cross, and we carefully planted each footstep in the steep side slope, hoping the furrows headed straight down the mountain were from ice sliding rather than other hikers slipping to their doom on the rocks below.

😬

 I soon lost Ben again, but as I stopped for another of my prolific breath-catches I saw massive elk resting in a patch of grass not 10 yards below the trail! It was so still I would not have seen it had I not been stopped to admire the scenery, and indeed Ben in his concentration on actually moving had not seen it. 

Eventually at ~11,800’ the climb started to level out on the titular Flat Top, and the summit was in sight. One last large and deep snowfield, and I was approaching a worried Ben, who had dark predictions of being struck by lightning and eaten by bears if I maintained my snails pace. Temporary signs at the summit warned of dangers ahead and the trail being closed to day hikers, but we had already gone more than half our miles and had heard that another hiker the day before phoned the rangers and was told the trail was actually open now, so on we went. 

At the top!

I made a much better pace on the flats and descent, and we were soon back down to tree line after only a few threatening growls of thunder up on the ridge. Tree line it was technically, but the shelter it provided was sparse given that a massive wildfire on that side of Rocky and Grand Lake had in late 2020 scoured most of the area we hiked through, leaving charred sticks pointing at the sky and hanging precariously from the remainders of their trunks. In some areas there were encouraging signs of re-growth as green shrubs popped through the black ash on the hillsides, and purple lupine lent splashes of color. 

I digress. Shortly after tree line we came to a stream, and I tested my new water filter to fill up again, mountain stream water as fresh and sweet as I could have wished for. We then were caught up to by ‘Legs’ and hiked with him for a bit, but he was headed due west out of Rocky rather than completing the loop, shaving off a few miles at the cost of carrying his full pack. After a long detour around a ‘meadow’ that looked a lot more like a marsh we were on the final stretch, 4 miles that on the map looked like they could have been another easy forest road, but did not materialize to become so until the last quarter mile. With tentative plans of hitting a pizza place in town spoiled due to their Monday closure, all that was left was to climb the steep driveway and staircases of Shadowcliff to long awaited hot showers and planning for the next section.