Rocky Mountain National Park: Day 3 - The Loch/Lake of Glass

We woke up early on Friday morning to try and get ahead of the crowds and get started on a 10 mile, round trip hike out to the Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. We headed to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead only to find out that we didn't get an early enough start on the day because the parking lot was full and we had to continue to drive to Bear Lake. We lucked out at the Bear Lake parking lot and pulled in as someone was just leaving. Starting at Bear Lake added about .3 miles to our hike which wasn't bad at all. This hike was a steady climb the entire was up the mountain and I believe ended up being about 4.6 miles to the Lake of Glass which is located above the Loch Vale.

On the way up to the Loch

 The hike up was a steady climb but was a very enjoyable hike. Once we made it up to the Loch we started to hike through some snow patches on the mountain. Although there was a path through the snow, it still made the hike difficult because it was hard to hold your footing. There were tons of people on this trail and A LOT of the hikers we saw had fly rods with them. I didn't have time to fish the Loch but saw a lot of people casting their lines into the water there. I was able to fish just above the Loch in the Icy Brook which connects the Loch to the Lake of Glass. I didn't expect just how awesome the water would be in between these two lakes. The Icy Brook just above the Loch was loaded with fish and I saw a lot of nice fish in the stream. 

A few nice fish!

The Loch

 I ended up catching a few using a dropper off of my dry fly and missed a few along the way too! I caught a very nice Greenback (pictured below) and decided it was time to finish out our hike and try again at the Lake of Glass.

Greenback caught in the Icy Brook

 When we started back up again, the climb to the Lake of Glass was pretty difficult because of the snow and incline. There were a lot of people slipping on the trail and all of us had to grab some makeshift hiking sticks to aid in our climb through the snow. It was all worthwhile because once we reached Timberline Falls the views were incredible. In order to reach the Lake of Glass you had to climb up the side of the falls and the lake sat just at the top of the waterfall. The climb wasn't too difficult as long as you took your time and had your feet set before you started your next move.

When we reached the Lake of Glass I began seeing fish rising, and after watching the water a little longer I could see countless fish were coming to the surface! I quickly got my rod together and started casting out to the rising fish. I hooked into one Greenback and then missed two more when a storm came over the mountain and hail began to fall. We made the decision to climb back down the falls and try and get further down the mountain as fast as we could. We didn't have rain gear and had no way of telling how long the storm would last. Unfortunately we never made it all the way to Sky Pond and my fishing was cut short. I would absolutely hike back to this spot if I ever get out to RMNP again to further explore the fishing here.

View from Timberline Falls

Hiking through the snow!

Lake of Glass

Casting through the wind

Climbing up the waterfall

The storm that chased us off the top of the mountain ended after about 30 minutes and we decided to just hike out and get back to the campsite at Glacier Basin. This turned out to be the right decision because when we got back to camp more storms rolled in and we were stranded in the car for about two hours before we could cook dinner. We woke up the next morning and headed into Estes Park to walk around town and get a fresh cup of coffee before heading back to Denver, where we went to a few different brew houses and had a nice steak dinner! This was my second trip to RMNP and it only makes me want to get back out there again to continue exploring the park and everything it has to offer. 

Rocky Mountain National Park: Day 2 - Fern Lake Trail/Big Thompson River

We woke up early at Finch Lake and packed up our gear to get an early start on the day. We hiked the 5 miles back to the trailhead in a little over 2 hours. It was much easier on the way out because the entire hike was downhill. Once back at the car we headed to Glacier Basin Campground to set up camp and get back out into the park. Once camp was set up we headed over to the Fern Lake Trailhead to hike up to the "Big Pool" on the Big Thompson River. This hike was only about 1.8 miles from the trailhead but I had plans to fish the entire was up while my buddies enjoyed the hike and hung out while I fished. I ended up catching a few fish here and there but I though that the river was very high for this time of year. RMNP had a higher than average snow pack this year and most of the mountains still had piles of snow on them.

The Big Pool

 As we were hiking up the trail I decided to go off the trail a bit and check out the stream. I walked down into a small open area and headed to the stream, with my friends a little behind me changing into sandals. When they met up with me about 5 minutes after I started fishing they told me I walked right by a Moose without ever seeing it! I wanted to take a look at her because I had never seen one before. As we headed back we realized that there was a mother and her calf grazing the open area about 25 yards away from us. We wanted to give them their space so we headed back to the trail, as they stared us down the entire time we got a little nervous. There was no other option than to get back to the trail and try and put as much space between us as possible. We were within 20-25 yards of them the entire time but made it back to the trail. As my friends changed back into their boots I noticed that the mother was following us and continued to get closer and closer. She got to about 15 yards away when she started to charge at us! Luckily she turned away under 10 yards from us and headed back to her calf. It was a nerve racking experience but quite the story to have!

Beautiful colors 

After our close call with the moose I had enough time to fish the Meadows section of the Big Thompson River. I worked my way through about a half mile of the stream picking up numerous fish along the way on attractor patterns. There were a ton of fisherman out because it was a beautiful day so I was happy with how well I was doing on top!

That water was high and freezing!

A few storms rolled in as we got into the evening hours so we decided to head back to camp and enjoy a few beers over dinner. We wanted to have a relaxing night because we had planned to do a 10 mile hike our last day in the park.

A heard of Elk bedded down behind Hoff

Rocky Mountain National Park: Day 1 - Finch Lake

For my friends bachelor party, three of us headed out to Colorado to spend 4 days in Rocky Mountain National Park. We arrived on Wednesday July 2 and wanted to hike the Ouzel Lake Trail and spend our first night in the backcountry. Mother nature had different plans for us because when we arrived at the backcountry office we were told there there was between 3-6 feet of snow at our campsite. We decided not to risk camping in the snow and ended up hiking 5 miles out to Finch Lake to spend our first night inside of RMNP. 

Finch Lake

The hike out to Finch Lake was 5 miles and for the first mile you head directly up hill on a very steep incline. The path is well marked and easy to stay on but it was a little brutal going up because there were (what felt like) hundreds of steps on your way up. The scenery was beautiful as you hike through wildflowers and pine trees the entire way to the lake. I ended up being able to throw some casts into Finch Lake but there were no fish there to take my flies. I ended up talking to a few people that said if we were to make an additional 2 mile hike to Pearl Lake that we would have found some fish to cast to. The backcountry campsite was well kept and after we set up camp we had a mule deer walk right beside our tent as she was passing through the area. The total hike out to the lake took us about 3 hours with a few stops for pictures and water breaks. Although this hike wasn't what we had planned for our first day, I wasn't disappointed with this choice. We spent the rest of the evening playing cards outside the tent and enjoying our surroundings in RMNP.

Finch Lake in the morning

Fern Lake: Rocky Mountain National Park

I messed around with the GoPro at Fern Lake, here is a short clip of the fun!

Rocky Mountain National Park: A Few More Pics

                                                   View from Beirstadt Lake Trail

                                                    A view from our hike to Bierstadt Lake

                                                   Mindy and I at the Bierstadt Lake

                                                     The many Elk in the park

                                                 Mindy riding in Horseshoe Park

                                                The Old Forest Inn Site

                                                 Butterfly on the Big Thompson

                                                                    Red Rocks Baby!

                                                                    Entrance Sign

                                                                   Greenback Regulations

                                                     This guy was full after eating my snack

Upper Big Thompson River: Rocky Mountain National Park

On our hike back down to the trail head I decided to fish a few sections of the Upper Big Thompson River from "The Pool" down to the car. The stream follows the trail in a few sections making access easy, and other parts that flow away from the trail have footpaths to get back to the steam. The water in this section has some serious flow to it, the fast water and different currents make getting a good drag free drift challenging, especially the first 1 mile below "The Pool." Still there is plenty of good holding water and I managed a few fish on a #14 Lime Trude. There were tons of anglers fishing so getting a piece of water to myself was challenging. The biggest reward came when I fooled a Greenback laying next to a log in fast moving water. There are tons of fish in this section, when the water gets down to normal summer flows I would imagine many good days with dry flies are had. If your looking for small mountain stream fishing it doesn't get any better then the Big Thompson above the meadow.

Fern Lake: Rocky Mountain National Park

   I was lucky enough to get out and do some fishing at Rocky Mountain National Park this past weekend. I have been itching to get back from the minute my brothers and I left on our September 2010 trip. This time around I had less fishing time, so I planned out a short overnight in the back country.

  Our Destination was Fern Lake via the Fern Lake Trail. We didn't get to start hiking till noon and finding a parking spot was a challenging to say the least. I would recommend getting to the trail head before 9 am if you are looking for a convenient parking spot.  The trail meanders along the Upper Big Thompson River through a narrow gorge between scenic mountains. The first 1.7 miles to our campsite at the Old Forest Inn was very flat and highly traveled by other hikers and anglers. The park service only issues 2 permits for this spot but there are at least 4 different locations to set up your tent. We situated ourselves atop a nice knoll that offered scenic views of the nearby mountains. Just an FYI if you are looking to escape the constant winds that howl down the valley I would recommend staying in the lower sites. We got everything ready by 2:30 and decided to make the 2 mile uphill trek to Fern Lake. The trail from Old Forest Inn to the lake was mostly uphill with gradual switchbacks. You pass the picturesque Fern Falls about 1 mile into the climb. Compared to my hike at Lawn Lake this one was much less grueling. You could definitely make this a relaxing day trip to a back country lake if you desired.

I got to the lake around 3:45pm. There was a light rain falling for the first 30 minutes. Myself and the other 7 anglers fishing didn't seem to mind. Once I got my gear together the rain stopped and fish immediately started feeding on the surface. I tied on a #22 Griffith's Gnat and brought four 8-10 inch Greenbacks to hand. Man I almost forgot how amazing these fish look! The 2 mile hike up was a distant memory after hooking into a few of these guys. The lake itself was much smaller then Lawn Lake. The banks were much more choked with trees and bushes as well making it difficult to back cast. The fish were very eager to take the gnat, and there were plenty of them cruising around. I only fished the back end of the lake where Fern Creek dumps out, there is a shallow shelf there and fish were hanging out right where the water went from deep to shallow.

For the next 3 hours I caught fish on #14 CDC Caddis skating it across the water and also managed 10 more on the #22 Griffith's Gnat. Overall this lake has plenty of Greenbacks, they average 3-4 inches smaller then the ones we caught at Lawn Lake. Even so it was well worth the hike and I would return in the future.

Couple more Colorado pics

Two hombres headed for the Roll Cast at the Dream Stream Corral

Lawn Lake and the Roaring River

Fall River in Horseshoe Park

Fall River Canyon

This one makes me want to go back like now!

Random Pics: Colorado

My brothers and I are blessed for the opportunity we had to go to Colorado this year. It was the best small stream fishing experience we may ever have. There's something to be said when you strap on a back pack, head into the high country and catch native fish..........