Hiking to Ouzel Lake

Shortly after Christmas last year, Chris and I got away for a couple of days. One of the cool things we did was to hike to Calypso Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Falls were cool, but we both remarked that we needed to make the hike in the spring when the snow would have melted and spring run off would be high. We didn't make it in June, but finally got back there in August and the run off was still significant. 

The hike was so much easier in the summer. The parking lot right off the trailhead was packed with cars and even small lots all along the way to the trailhead were filled with cars. It was going to be a busy trail. Chris and I sat and waited and after some patience, were rewarded with a parking spot.

We planned to hike to Calypso Cascades then on to Ouzel Falls. When we got going and saw how far it was to Ouzel Lake, we decided to try and make it. Ten miles would be a good distance; we hoped we could make it.

I was taking pictures of Ouzel Falls and suddenly Chris popped up right under the cascading water.

After we moved on past Ouzel Falls, the trail opened up and we saw fewer and fewer hikers. I was a little dismayed when the trail started moving downward (knowing of course, that we would have to hike back up on the return trip), but it evened out for a mile and half as it seemed we walked the ridge pole of the mountain top. 

We finally reached Ouzel Lake after a couple of hours of hiking and were happy to sit and rest for a bit. Smoke from a fire in Ft. Collins had been filling the sky for the afternoon, thus the pictures are a little hazy.

It was about 4:30 as we began to make our way back to the parking lot. It was getting cooler with less hikers on the trail. 

Chris and I walked at a fairly good clip and returned to the parking lot dusty and dirty and quite exhausted.