Never summer wilderness is aptly named. That rain I got last night turned into ice. The mountains I had hiked over yesterday were covered in a light dusting of snow. All afternoon hiking yesterday was very chilly. Like late fall temperatures. Ah well that's behind me. Today I go into Rocky Mountain National Park(rmnp).
The trail only does a little 22 mile loop up a mountain before dropping down into the town of grand lake. The thing is there are camping restrictions since its a national park. You need backcountry permits and bear canisters to camp in the park. There is a shortcut that skips the loop and takes you into town after only 4 miles. A lot of people do that. Or they take the shortcut to town and slackpack the loop+shortcut. I wanted to hike the loop but it was going to be a big, 30 mile, day. I had 7 miles of hiking from my campsite to the start of the loop then the entire loop. I was basically slackpacking anyway since I was down to just a lunch and a few snack bars.
I'm very glad I did it. The hiking was cake. The trail was in perfect condition with a gentle climb up the mountain. The way up was along a creek valley with water everywhere including a cute little waterfall. Once I got up there the wind made it chilly but the views were fantastic. The west faces of the mountains still had a bit of snow on them giving a nice contrast to the blue, green and gray of the sky, grass and rocks. The hike back down was a bit steeper but it was switchbacked and again followed a creek with some great swimming holes and cute cascading waterfalls. Definitely worth the time and effort. If I had skipped it I'd have just been lounging around town all day.
The hostel I stayed at was incredible. It was built on a cliff overlooking grand lake and was built to highlight that view. The bunk room wasn't great butI didn't spend much time up there when I could spend it in the lounge.
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