Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park

I had to go to Boulder, Colorado for work last week. I decided to make the most of it by going out early and staying through this past weekend. We have lots of friends there, so Michael flew out at the end of the work week. We intended to stay with friends, but this wound up being a trip where flexibility was required. More on that in a bit.

I arrived late Friday night and stayed with my brother. We visited Garden of the Gods on Saturday. It must have been 75 degrees, which was a bit of a shock coming from the chilly weather here the previous week. It was crowded, but we managed to find a short trail with only a few people.

On Sunday, a friend and I borrowed snowshoes fand headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. For all of the times I've been to Colorado, I had never actually been there. We were warned that parking can be at a premium at Bear Lake Trailhead, but the lot was only about 1/3 full when we got there. We hiked the trail towards Emerald Lake. I expected to struggle. I arrived 48 hours prior to our hike and my friend arrived had been in Colorado less than 24 hours at that point. The trailhead is at nearly 9,500 feet. Much to my surprise, we did pretty well. We were slow on the uphills, but otherwise, we had a good hike to Emerald Lake. The views were just spectacular. There is a reason why this is such a popular area.

 Looking towards Emerald Lake from Nymph Lake

On the hike up to Dream and Emerald Lakes. Although it was relatively warm, the wind was fierce. I wore my parka the entire hike.

 Just above Dream Lake.

 The bark of an evergreen tree.

 Looking down on Emerald Lake

My friend snowshoeing above Emerald Lake. We turned around shortly after this. The legs were strong, but my lungs were burning a bit at this point from the lack of oxygen.

Frozen Emerald Lake

 I love this picture for the sense of scale. In addition to the group on the edge of the lake, there are two skiers about halfway up the chute in the top center of the photo, just to the right of the large pillar of rock.

A dead tree on the lakeshore.

Standing on Emerald Lake. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been out on a frozen lake. On this day, the ice was really smooth.

Bubbles trapped in the ice.

Our hike back to the parking lot was quick. The parking lot was a complete circus, complete with people clubbing each other for parking spots. We were still feeling energetic, so we decided to hike to Alberta Falls. I sort of expected the frozen columns of ice that one usually sees when waterfalls freeze. What we found instead was an inky black sheet of ice through which we could see water flowing. I had never seen anything like it. It was very cool and completely unexpected. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it with my camera.

After my week of meetings was over, Michael flew out to Colorado to join me. As I said earlier, we intended to stay with friends for the weekend. That didn't wind up happening because several members of their family got sick. So, Friday, Michael and I borrowed the same snowshoes and I took him up to do the same hike. I know there are a million other places we could have gone, even within the National Park, but I was so impressed with Emerald Lake that I wanted him to see it.

 The weather wasn't quite as perfect as it had been five days earlier. There were more clouds and periodic snow flurries, but it also wasn't as windy. This is the view from Dream Lake.

Interesting tree roots.

 Another view of Emerald Lake

 Windblown Snow

Michael and I made it higher than I had the previous Sunday. This is working our way up a gully above Emerald Lake.

Crossing a rock slide. We turned around not long after this because we felt the terrain got to steep.

 The view from our turnaround point between 10,500 and 11,000 feet.

Michael at our turnaround point. Shortly after this, clouds started rolling in and it started snowing. We made the right decision in turning around.

 Michael out on the lake.

The view from Moraine Park on our drive out.

We had a great time. I loved both hikes. Now I want to go back and explore the park when I have more time.

Annapolis Rocks Snowshoeing

After last week's storm, we couldn't resist the opportunity to get the snowshoes out again. We picked up a friend and her dog and and met another friend at the Annapolis Rocks parking area on US Highway 40 west of Frederick, Maryland. Fortunately, road crews partially cleared the parking lot. We've hiked up to Annapolis Rocks and to Blackrock a number of times. This is the first time we have snowshoed up there. The first quarter mile of the hike has to be the least charming stretch of the entire Appalachian Trail. The trail goes under the US Highway 40 bridge, following a ledge perched over Interstate 70. The roar of traffic makes it impossible to talk even to the person hiking next to you.

After we passed under the bridge and turned up the hill, away from the highways, the hike improved rapidly. South Mountain still had nearly two feet of snow on the ground. There was a pretty wide path in the snow from hikers who had been up to Annapolis Rocks before us. We had lunch in the sun at Annapolis Rocks. From there, we headed north to Blackrock following only one set of snowshoe tracks. Then we hiked down the hill from Blackrock. The snow was still fluffy on the north-facing slope. We had a good time glissading down the trail. At the bottom, when we reached the creek, we decided it was time to head back.

We had a great time out in the snow and we saw a total of six other people (two of whom were climbers camped at the bottom of Annapolis Rocks). On a normal day, this area is crazy busy with hikers.

Michael at Annapolis Rocks

 The view northwest from Annapolis Rocks

 Our friends snowshoeing

The view from Blackrock

 Sumac seeds

Blackrock Creek. The trail continues on the other side. This is where we turned around.

My snowshoes on trail.

 The trail and shadows in the late afternoon sun.

 Michael and our friends hiking up the last hill on the way back to the car.

Michael had to do an emergency repair on his snowshoes. The rivets on the binding strap pulled out (this is probably his third time using these...we'll be contacting the manufacturer). He used utility cord to make a field repair, which got him back to the car.

Snowshoeing Lake Artemnesia

It snowed here. A lot. Nearly 20 inches fell in our yard. It would have been nice to head out to the mountains, where they got nearly three feet, for snowshoeing, but the state was still asking people to stay off the roads on Sunday. Understandable, given the severity of the storm. After clearing the driveway on Sunday, we put our snowshoes on and hiked down the bike trail to Lake Artemnesia, a pleasant little spot fairly close to our house.

 Snowshoes on the bike path

 Dried maple seeds.

Tracks in the fresh snow

Michael on the path near Lake Artemnesia

Canada Geese on Lake Artemnesia

The bike path near the lake

Indian Creek

Another view of Indian Creek

Canaan Valley Weekend 2016: Winter's Arrival

This past weekend, we made our annual trek to the Canaan Valley for winter hiking, good food, and fun with our friends. We arrived Friday afternoon to gray, relatively warm weather, at least for that part of West Virginia. We made a couple of quick stops at Blackwater Falls State Park before picking up the keys to our cabin.

Blackwater Falls

The stream below Elkala Falls.

Our plan is always to get some snowshoeing in while we are out there, but since it had been relatively warm, none of the streams were frozen over and there was only a dusting of snow on the ground. No snowshoeing this trip. If we had been able to stay for another day or two, we would have been able to snowshoe. Winter decided to arrive over the weekend while we were out there. By Monday, there was a fair bit of snow and sub-zero temperatures.

Instead of snowshoeing on Saturday, we went for a long hike on the gravel road that leads from Blackwater Falls to Table Rock. The road winds around Canaan Mountain through stands of hemlocks and rhododendrons. There is a lot of green, even this time of year.

The view from Lindy Point. It was incredibly windy and cold out here. The temperature started out around freezing, but steadily declined over the course of the afternoon.

Crossing one of the streams.

The road we hiked on.

Hiking up in the cloud towards Table Rock (which we didn't make it to).

On Sunday, the weather at the cabin started out similar to Saturday: gray, cloudy, light snow and near freezing. We hiked up the ridge to the east of our cabin into northern Dolly Sods. As we climbed, the temperature dropped and hoar frost began appearing on the trees. Towards the top of the ridge, the trees had nearly at inch of hoar frost.

 Looking up the hill towards Dolly Sods.

 Hoar frost on dried leaves.

The group, on reaching the top of the ridge. The wind was pretty mild for winter in Dolly Sods, but that doesn't mean it wasn't windy. I came down the mountain with mild windburn. It was, of course, quite a bit colder up in the wilderness area than it was at our cabin, several hundred feet below.

 Frosty trees on the plateau. I love Dolly Sods in winter. It looks different each time I'm there, but it never fails to impress me. This time it looked like a sugar-coated wonderland.

 Looking west towards Canaan Valley.

 Hiking south along the western edge of the wilderness area.

 The group hiking south along the trail.

We descended back to our cabin and got back in time to do a little bit of sledding down the hill behind it. Monday, five of us went tubing before making the long drive home. The high was a balmy -1 degrees Fahrenheit at the tubing run. We had a blast. A great end to a pretty perfect weekend.