Snowshoeing Flattop Mountain

Snowshoeing Flattop Mountain

On the 4th of May, Brad Cook and I  snowshoed up the Flattop Mountain Trail.  Flattop is a 12,324 foot peak and is one of the most popular hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park because it's one of the easiest ways to reach the Continental Divide.  The Flattop Mountain Trail is a Grade I, Class 1 hike.

The trail can easily be connected with other trails to several other destination trails.  We started from Bear Lake, but there are a few other trail head options including Grand Lake.  So you could connect the two for a through-hike from Bear Lake to Grand Lake.  Wouldn't that be fun!

The trail starts in the northeast corner of Beak Lake and heads northeast for about a half mile, then turns west (left) at a trail junction.  From here you are heading almost straight west for another half mile, to the Fern-Odessa Trail junction.

From the junction, you head southwest and the trail begins to climb up through the forest to an overlook of Dream Lake.  This portion of the trail offers great views of the surrounding peaks.  Here's a shot toward Longs Peak, which is shrouded in clouds.

From here, the trail turns back to the northwest and climbs up through trees that become more stunted as you climb.  

Here's a shot of Brad with a view back to the east behind him.  There is another overlook of Emerald Lake where I snapped a quick pic of the Tyndall Gorge.

The face of the Hallett Peak ridge is very impressive!  The trail continues to zigzag in a generally westward direction by switching between northwest to southwest.

Brad and I didn't make it to the summit because we had a firm turn-around time, but we made it to about 11,900 feet or so.  We had a great time getting to know each other and the weather was just perfect with very little wind, which is very rare in this area.  We met exactly two people on the trail, both were skiing.

Boulder Mountaineer School

Boulder Mountaineer School at CMC Boulder

This year the family and I joined the Colorado Mountain Club.  They are the premier hiking club in the Rocky Mountain Region.  Their state headquarters is in Golden, but several groups have clubhouses in cities around the state and one of the most active is the Boulder Group.  The group conducts lots of hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross-country and back-country ski trips.  They also have several environmental stewardship type volunteer opportunities.  The group publishes some of the best guide books around.  They also help maintain the Brainard Lake Skiing and Hiking Area and two nearby cabins.

One of the activities they conduct that I was most interested in is the Boulder Mountaineer School.  This is a group of introductory level courses in several of the areas they provide classes in, including hiking, climbing and mountaineering.  They also support back-country skiing courses.  I originally enrolled in several courses in hopes of completing the entire BMS curriculum this year.  But planning around family vacation and kids summer activities, I was forced to drop some.

Each course consists of a set of lectures held at the club house, usually two or three evenings from 6:30 PM and lasting a couple of hours a piece.  The lectures are then followed by a field trip of sorts, where the class goes out to practice the skills they've learned.

The first class is Hiking and Survival Essentials.  Honestly most of this class was review for me, but I suppose they have to make sure everyone has a foundation of knowledge, which is why this course is a prerequisite for most of their other courses.  There were several things that were new though.  There was a presentation about hiking and backpacking food from a nutritionalist that explained how much and what types of food your body needs while participating in outdoor activities.  Before I always just grabbed some beef sticks and some GORP and hit the trail.  Now I know better what to pack and how much.  The section on weather was also very informative, explaining what to watch out for, when to let the weather turn you around and when it's okay to stick it out.  They provided lots of information and talked at length about the "ten essentials".  They explained that traditionally this was a list of gear items you should take with you on every hike, but has recently transformed into a list of gear systems instead.  They gave a presentation about clothing that was kind of like a hands on version of the clothing section of Andrew Skurka's gear presentation.

The highlight of the course for me was the field trip.  We went to Big Elk Meadows off of highway 36 between Lyons and Estes.  We split into groups and built emergency shelters and practiced varying methods for starting a fire.  It was just like building a fort when I was a kid!  Okay, so maybe it was a tad bit more structured than that.  After all, we were trying to demonstrate what they had taught us, but it was a blast!

Here's me working away...

...and here's the rest of my group standing in front of our finished fort, I mean, uhm, emergency shelter!  Thanks to Jon Campbell for the pics.

The other class I took was the Hiking Navigation class.  This class was really great!  They teach you all about various maps and other hiking resources, but they primarily use 7.5 Minute USGS Quadrangles for the class.  Next they teach about compasses and which ones work best.  Then they teach you how to use the two together.  I had forgotten most of what I learned in the Army, so I got a great deal out of this class.  At the end we took a field trip to Green Mountain where we put our skills to the test.

I have also participated in a hike to the summit of Mt. Audubon and I had a great time there as well.  See the pic I snapped from the summit above.  One the best parts of going through the classes and participating in the hikes is the people that you meet.  I'm looking forward to taking more classes and going on more hikes with the group.

So if you're like me and you are looking to spend more time in the outdoors, but want to be safe and have the right skills, or if you are just looking to meet some great people that share your love of the outdoors, check out the Colorado Mountain Club!