Sky Pond and Fall (9-29-10)

It was a fun and interesting hike up to Sky Pond in RMNP. Got to see three waterfalls along the way. Just too cool.

Started out before 7 AM as usual. Still dark, but as the sun came up and lit up the trees around me--what a sight.

I stopped to take a picture of the color mixed with rocky outcrops and fell over backwards from a crouch onto my butt. Wouldn’t you know it--I smashed a hole into my gallon jug of water. I dumped all the water out leaving the ice. I wrapped the broken bottle in a poncho and checked it from time to time, dumping out the water caught in the plastic. I put the hand towel I carry on the bottom of my pack. I just wrung it out whenever I stopped, so my stuff stayed pretty dry.

Passed by Alberta Falls as I went up the path. Third time this year and it still captivates me. Big 25 footer.

Since I started out so early in the morn and on a weekday, I figured I would be alone on the trail for most of the AM. Nope. I met a backpacker on his way out of the forest. “Been too long in the wilderness. Time to go home,” he said to me. I wish I had that problem.

Timberline Falls beckoned to me across the valley. I made my way over to it stopping a few times to check on the broken jug.

En route one passes by The Loch, one of RMNP prettiest lakes. The reflection of the surrounding mountains upon its waters make for really beautiful photos. And the tranquility of its setting adds to its appeal. I’m glad I got to visit it before anyone else was there.

In order to get to the falls, one needs to climb a moderate cliff. The only problem is, is that the path goes up a small stream. Not a lot of water flow, but enough to make the rocks slick and in need of close attention.

Timberline Falls is well worth all the effort. In fact, it is my favorite falls so far. It may not be the biggest, but it has the most charm. It’s about 80 foot tall and ends in the most interesting feature I’ve seen so far. The area below it is mostly damp rocks. You can walk all the way to the very bottom. I sat on a damp rock and tilted my face up into the spray. Awesome. Of course it is the season for low water levels, but so what. It was really cool. And as the sunlight hit it at 10 AM, the water glowed; the top of the falls was wreathed in a halo. Simply enchanting.

I could have stayed there all day, but I wanted to get to the top of the falls and over to Sky Pond before noon. So I dragged myself over to another round of cliff/stream bed climbing. At the top of this was a meadow and Glass Lake. I hiked around the lake to get to Sky Pond.

The path ended in a jumble of boulders. Here I lost the trail. I wandered around trying to pick it up. I found something that looked like it--it was marked with rock cairns. No go. Went to the north not the west. Luckily I brought the guidebook along. Soon I had a general idea were to look.

You know when you are watching a sci-fi movie and the marine guys are clearing an area. They look front to back side to side. But frustratingly not up. And where does the creature jump them from--up above. I still find myself yelling at the dudes and dudettes to look up for goodness sake!

The cairn to mark the way onward to Sky Pond was up on a tall boulder. Duh.

From here it was pretty smooth going. Someone had even put in a row of square rocks in the marshy areas. Pretty elaborate for a trail above timberline.

I even got to pass by a 15 foot unnamed waterfall. Bonus waterfall for me.

Sky Pond is a beautiful high alpine tarn at 11000 feet. It sits at the base of Taylor and Powell Peaks. It is fed by water from Taylor Glacier; a hike to for next summer.

The Sharkstooth is a technical 5.4 rock climbing spire to the north of Sky Pond. There were a couple of people climbing it that day. I could hear them talking from over a half mile away. I want to do some alpine mountaineering in the future. But the rope work is intimidating to me. After hearing one guy yell “Rock”, “Sorry,” and “Are you alright?” I’m not so sure about alpine climbing.

As my ETD closed in, I had to get down the trail. Couldn’t say the 200 foot of stream bed/cliff climbs was overly easy going down (up was easier), but they were kind of fun in a way.

The scenery going down was spectacular. Going up for me is more looking at my feet and briefly upward to gauge my progress. Although I do stop often enough to take pictures. Going down is a delight. The colors and sounds blend together to make it often seem like a dream.

Funny thing: I was wearing my “I Love Chick-Fil-A” t-shirt on this climb. I had six people come up to me on the way down and say they loved it also. One was a guy from Houston celebrating his anniversary.

I stopped to talk with a man that has come to RMNP the last week of September for the last 30 years. He rides his Harley from out East. Pretty interesting conversation.

A mile from the TH a tree root decided to reach out and touch someone--me. What a header I took. Landed on my chin, left hand and knee, and right shoulder. My face got off without injury, just a little scrap on my chin. Wrenched my neck pretty good. I hope the plate and screws in my neck are ok. They should be--they’re made of titanium. Left knee was shredded. Sprained my shoulder, and somehow punctured my hand. [Gross part.] Hit the palm just right so it bleed like an open spicket. Also forced out stuff that looked like very tiny grapes. At first I thought it was scraped skin. So I tore at it. And more and more come out of the wound. Now I believe it was fat deposits. Tore off most of it and pressed the rest back into the wound. Wrapped my hand in the soaked hand towel. After getting myself together I stumbled down to my car.

A ranger passed me going up, looked me over and asked if I was ok. I said I thought so. She kept going on up the trail. Out checking up on her territory--probably Glacier Gorge. It’s a lot of area for one ranger to cover.

I was stopped again by a couple that liked Chick-fil-A. Great fast food imho. Took their picture and talked a bit. They were from Loveland.

Finally, got to my car and cleaned up what I could. Another ranger kept looking over to me across the parking lot, never saying a word. I think he was ticked off at me. Maybe because I wasn’t leaving the parking area fast enough. He had to send other people away to the other shuttle lot all the while looking over at me. It wasn’t like my leg was bleeding all over. Just not a people person.

And to top it all off, I has the misfortune to use the outhouse with a broken lock on the handle. Never occurred to me use the dead bolt. A college girl walked in on me and backed out in shock. Or whatever. The ranger said loud enough for me to hear that the upper lock should be used as she entered the john next to me. By this time the ranger was starting to register on my jerk scale. Not even a hello from Mr. Icebox.

Then again, maybe liability issues keep the rangers from helping people who are hurt if they are ambulatory. Who knows.

Overall, it was a great hike. I lucked out that I didn’t get hurt worse or at the beginning of the morning. My injuries did make playing my cello in the Longmont Symphony concert the next weekend a little tough. But it went off pretty good. A nice coda to a really wonderful hike. I’ll do this one again (without the drama at the end). ;-)