MILLS LAKE AND THE LOCH

Originally, we planned to visit Brainard Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness on Friday. However, we wanted to revisit Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather forecast looked much nicer – sunny with temperatures in the upper 30’s – and we still wanted to hike to Mills Lake and the Loch. We definitely wanted to go to a place where we could take advantage of the snowshoes. We had really enjoyed snowshoeing the previous day, and we were looking forward to giving it another try.

The free hotel breakfast was terrible on Thursday, so we decided to splurge on Friday. We drove into downtown Boulder early and stopped for breakfast at The Buff. I had the chorizo skillet, while Christy had French toast and fried chicken. That may have been the best meal of the trip! It was definitely the best coffee.

From there we drove back to Rocky Mountain National Park. On Thursday the entrance booth was unattended. That wasn’t the case on Friday though. Friday was a much busier day, probably due to the better weather forecast. This time, the actual weather matched the forecast. We purchased an annual parks pass for $80 and headed into the park. The drive in featured many, many dramatic views of snowy peaks all around us.

This time, we parked at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived. We put on our snowshoes right at the start this time. We hiked up the trail through the woods, passing many side trails leading upwards. We passed Alberta Falls, which was frozen and completely buried under the snowpack. A bit later, we crossed a gully and climbed to a rocky ridge with nice views. A bit farther on, the trail simply ended. What had we missed?

We backtracked to the rocks. My GPS showed another, connecting trail, just a short distance above us. I scouted in that direction, breaking trail in the fresh snow. After only a few minutes I stumbled upon that trail. The map showed that it would lead us back to the correct route. Christy followed me, and later, two other hikers caught up to us after following our tracks. I’m still not sure where we missed a turn, but apparently it is a common error, at least in the winter.

More fine views of snowy peaks unfolded in front of us. We then dropped back into the woods, and followed the beaten track to a junction with multiple trails. There, we stayed left to head for Mills Lake. There was one steep snow climb shortly before the lake, but we managed to get up it without much trouble. Unfortunately, the wind was still howling when we reached the lakeshore. I don’t think the wind ever stops blowing in Colorado in the winter.

We took a few photos of the frozen lake and surrounding mountains. Then we backtracked a bit and had lunch in a more sheltered spot. Afterwards we returned on the same trail. Christy was able to downclimb the steep stretch, but I just slid down it on my butt. I discovered that with snowshoes, if you point your toes up, the heels of the snowshoes really slow you down. If you want to go faster, put the snowshoes flat on the ground in front of you.

We returned to the big junction. Christy was ready to call it a day, but I wanted to visit The Loch. She decided to head back to the car while I extended the hike. She took the winter shortcut trail, which heads down directly, bypassing Alberta Falls. I headed up the trail to The Loch. My information suggested following the summer trail, which climbs switchbacks and avoids “The Wall of Denial”. Most people just follow the Icy Brook drainage up to The Loch, but that requires a tough climb at the previously mentioned wall.

I followed the trail to the first switchback. Unfortunately, the switchbacks were buried under a huge snowpack. Nobody had broken trail through there. In fact, the trail I was on dropped down and merged with the other route. Oh well. There’s no avoiding the Wall of Denial.

It wasn’t as bad as it looked. It wasn’t any steeper than the short, steep climb up to Mills Lake, but it was a lot longer. I made it up without any trouble, and only had to butt slide one stretch on the way back.

After the big climb, the rest of the hike to The Loch was an easy stroll. The Loch is a beautiful alpine lake, surrounded by peaks and glaciers. The light was terrible for photos though. I decided to walk up one side of the lake in search of better photos. That worked, and I ended up continuing on to the far end of the lake. There, I noticed a well-beaten trail leading towards the Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. Apparently a lot of people weren’t heading the ranger’s warnings about avalanche danger.

I returned to the foot of the lake on the opposite side. Once I was back, I noticed a hiker crossing the ice to reach a small island in the middle of the frozen lake. What a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? It would be really hard to get to that island in the summer.

I hiked back down along the drainage, and then down the shortcut trail. The winter shortcut trail is a delightful walk through a peaceful, snowy forest.

That evening, we hit Holidaily Brewery in Golden for dinner. It has the best gluten-free beer I’ve ever had, and the food truck was pretty good, too. The place was really chill and low-key. It was a great place to spend the final night of our trip.