Black Lake

 And so the training for ... Da da da... Peru, begins!

That's right. Scott and I are headed for Peru in October. Macchu Pichu is on his bucket list and while I have done it, I'm delighted to be going again with Alex and this time, ticking Rainbow Mountain off my own bucket list. 

Both of these are high altitude hikes and Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu is both high and has several really long (16 mile) days. We are officially in training.

Last week we attacked the 8 miles and 2000 gain of Walker Ranch.  I was nothing short of sore the next day. It was the first day I had even laced up my proper hiking boots since Kilimanjaro last year. 

Yesterday I went forth at the crack of dawn to take advantage of a last minute timed entry permit for Rocky Mountain National Park. 

I was at the Bear Lake parking lot by 6:00am and had secured a new annual National Park Pass along the way. Let's make 2026 a year to celebrate RMNP, eh?!

6:15am: And I'm off. It was a 5 mile hike to Black Lake. I remembered it was tough and long last time (2024?), but this morning I felt GREAT and bounced along with the sun on my face, t-shirt clad and warm enough already. 

At this time of day the clouds have not begun, the colors are saturated and the wind is non-existant. There was a half moon looking down on me. I spent considerable time photographing pretty much anything that took my fancy. But had an especially good time at Mills Lake.

I was half way. The easy half! As I clomped along in my heavier mountaineering boots I could feel people wondering "aren't they a little bit overkill?". Myself included. 

The infrequent patches of thick, slightly crusty-slightly slushy snow started becoming more frequent, crossing my path in bigger and bigger chunks. My boots had a way of showing their value at this time and as I post-holed a little, the heavy treads did me proud. I stayed glued to the ground on some very sketchy spots that would have otherwise resulted in an impressive downhill slide to the river!

I was feeling pretty grateful to still have a smile on my face, the sun on my back and be upright. Today was a good day.

At the top, Black Lake was only half thawed. I sadly did not see that big ol' marmot that I had been promised. I took a few minutes to park on rock, watch fish jump and waterfalls cascade down the towering granite that overshadows the lake and makes it appear black. Reflections danced on the water. I was truly alone up here and it was peaceful. No... it was blissful.

The final climb up here had steep, but going down turned out to be a little less technically challenging and treacherous than I had anticipated, after retrieving poles from my backpack. I did a pretty good job of balancing, digging in and stepping down, if I do say so myself! (Although it would have been better judgment to bring spikes too.)

I might have taken me almost 4.5 hours to get up here, but going down, in the heat of the day with little in the way of photo-opps left and throes of people now up as far as Mills Lake, I made haste and found myself back at the Bear Lake parking lot in just 2.5 hours... with feet still intact and feeling pretty darn good overall. 

I can't wait to drag myself up a fourteener in less than a month!