The alarm went off way too early - Justin and I did not get all the sleep we should have. We were just too excited about our upcoming adventure, a three night backpacking trip within Rocky Mountain National Park. The first leg of the trip was a difficult trek to remote Little Rock Lake on the first day. Little Rock Lake is the lowest of the beautiful Gorge Lakes. These lakes are flanked on the south, east, and west by Mount Ida, Chief Cheley Peak, Cracktop Mountain, Julian Mountain, and Terra Tomah Mountain. The Gorge Lakes are often seen on the other side of Forest Canyon while driving along Trail Ridge Road, and the sight often sparks ones’ adventurous nature. However, take caution - this is a very remote area of the park, and rather difficult to get to.

The plan was to get to the lake and set up camp. A good nights sleep would be necessary to spend the next day exploring the area summiting some of the nearby peaks. Next, Justin and I would head up and back over the Continental Divide for a night at Timber Lake, heading out the following morning. All it takes for a change of plans is one hell of a storm, excessively rugged terrain, and packs in excess of 50 pounds!

It was a beautiful morning on August twenty-first. There were a few clouds in the sky, but all looked peaceful and we were anticipating a great day of hiking. Justin and I took a few shots of Poudre Lake and then began our climb along the Divide. We climbed through the dense forest up toward tree line. Fifteen minutes into the hike, two very large bull elk welcomed us. They watched as we took a few pictures and moved along the trail. Before we knew it we were above tree line, surrounded by stunning mountains, engulfed in a wonderful morning.

Justin and I continued along the Continental Divide on what is possibly my favorite trail in the park — the Mount Ida Trail. This trail follows the crest of the Divide for miles. The trail gets above tree line very quickly, and hikers can spend the day high above the valley floors. There are wonderful views in every direction, beautiful flowers, and a lot of wildlife! The well-established trail rises and falls with the rolling tundra as you climb toward the summit of Mt. Ida, which can be seen far in the distance.

Justin and I contemplated moving toward Little Rock Lake, our destination for the day, by hitting the summit before dropping down the ridge from Ida's Northwest slopes. But the weather looked a little uncooperative, and we hastily began our descent down Ida Ridge. This is where our only major mistake of the day took place.

Both of us had looked at the maps and decided to follow the ridge in its entirety, leading us right to Little Rock Lake. A little over halfway down this gently sloping ridge, we came to a very steep but manageable slope that led directly to Arrowhead Lake and tree line. With the clouds darkening, tree line looked very tempting – so we bit! Picking our way carefully down the slope, we saw some small willows around the lake that we would have to push through in order to get to the outlet stream and onto Little Rock Lake, well in sight and only 3/4 of a mile beyond Arrowhead.

These “small” willows turned out to be between six and eight feet in height. Negotiating a path through the extremely dense, wet, slippery, branches of the trees/bushes was a horrible experience. Justin and I fell several times. Our feet touched the ground only after falling, then we had to get ourselves back up a few feet off the ground in the branches of these trees so we could see where we were going. After a fall, I would pick my self up and shake off only to hear Justin take a tumble up ahead of me. Every time a foot slipped on the slick branches, the weight of our heavy packs threw us off balance. Balance was difficult to regain again before we were lying on the ground...or near the ground, as the willow branches helped to break the fall. After what seemed like a lifetime, we were finally out of that mess!

We wasted a lot of time in there, so Justin and I quickly moved around the rest of the lake and began to follow the outlet stream toward our destination – which was now out of sight. While crossing the outlet stream near tree line, we felt the first drops of rain - which made us pick up the pace even more. We were expecting to make it to camp fairly soon, and hoped to beat the rain...yeah right!

When To Go

Late-July through September, when the area is usually free of snow

Trailhead

Milner Pass
(10,750')

Directions

The trailhead is located at Milner Pass, along Trail Ridge Road (Hwy 34) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Arrive early in the day, as this popular pullout often fills on summer days.

Hike Length

7.25 miles one-way, to Little Rock Lake site

Elevation

2,400 foot gain to Ida Ridge, then 2800' drop to the Lake
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The first section we hiked while descending this gorge below Arrowhead Lake was beautiful. Enormous waterfalls, cliff edges, flowers and even a porcupine made this part of the trip very enjoyable. Being in a hurry, I didn't stop to take pictures of anything but the cuddly porcupine. He wasn't too thrilled that I followed him, and he turned to "flex" his quills. He must have realized that I wasn't such a bad guy after all, because he posed sniffing a rock while I got a few shots of him. But, back to business...put the camera away, get your raincoat out and get moving!

A minute or two after I said goodbye to my new prickly friend, the heavens opened and downpour began. The temperature dropped quickly to about 40 degrees and the cold rain turned to hail. Now the pace really quickened - we had to be close to our destination, right?

The terrain became pretty marshy, so we moved away from the stream to find some drier ground. This led us through deeper marshes and we got a little turned around. The going was very slow. We were tired, soaked to the bone, very cold, and hiking cross-country - the last trail we had set foot on was high on the divide, miles away. I was a bit “out of it” at this point, but at least I knew it, and I listened to Justin for the correct directions.

The rain kept dumping from above. Justin leapt from our vantage point (a rock we had climbed to assess our route) down into some more willows, lucky only waist high. I followed, but only because there wasn't another choice. I just wanted to lie down! Justin led me back to the stream, and coaxed me over a very tricky crossing, which I would have done without hesitation if I didn't have something, which I was sure was a small elephant, strapped to my back.

After making the river crossing I realized I was kind of being a wuss, and made myself snap out of it - Justin helped too. So the two of us kept picking our way slowly down the rough terrain along the river. Justin and I came to a small (though not so small when it's raining and you're wearing wet shoes and carrying 50 pounds on your back) drop of about eight feet that we had to negotiate along the river. We made our way carefully down this obstacle and had to cross the river again - but this time on a steep, slippery slab that made the process very unnerving. Halfway out in the river, clinging to this rock, we saw the flash and felt the electricity in our hands through the rock, while a long and loud crack of thunder shook the earth around us. We both looked at each other in with a "what the hell is going on" look and darted to a "cave" in the cliff like bank of the river. It was actually an overhanging cliff with a grassy bottom. It was our only shelter but it worked pretty well. I took my pack off and sat on it, while Justin just sat on the grass. It was actually nice to take a little break, and the "shelter" kept us somewhat out of the rain, though not the wind. Most importantly it kept us from being exposed to the lightning, and made me feel much more comfortable about our situation. So comfortable in fact, that I would have fallen asleep if I hadn't been shivering so badly.

Partly because the sky had cleared a tad, and partly because we were getting excessively cold, Justin and I decided to get moving again. We crossed the river once more, and finally found some open forest in which to travel. We stayed in the forest and finally started making progress. The sun even poked its shining face out of the black clouds at times, which definitely lifted our spirits. At last we could see Rock Lake (!), and we knew that Little Rock Lake was only a short distance beyond it.

These lakes are named very well. The lakes are banked on their east sides by enormous boulders, larger than Lake Haiyaha. These boulders have fallen from the steep faces of Terra Tomah Mountain high above. Negotiating through these rocks was tiring, but a welcome relief from the marshy terrain, or the steep, slick and technical rock along the river. The sun was warming our frigid bodies and the shivering and shaking had stopped. Our shins had stopped bleeding and stinging from being dragged through brush. We circled around Little Rock Lake, and felt we had reached the finish line of a marathon as we looked down on our campsite, only about twenty yards away!

We set up camp quickly, laid our gear in the warming sun, filtered some water (which was at the end of the only trail in this gorge!!) and began fixing our mountain chili...which ended up un-fixing Justin...but that's another story. We were pretty beat up and really didn't feel like doing anything but sleeping, so that's exactly what we did.

Justin and I woke up the next morning to beautiful blue skies. Lazily, we got out of the tent, both realizing that there was an unspoken agreement - this would be a “rest day” to let our bodies recover from the previous night’s adventure. We cooked some eggs, fixed some tea, and had a nice and relaxing breakfast in a truly beautiful place. We laid all of our gear out again in the warming and rising sun. After cleaning up around camp a little bit, we decided to do some fly-fishing. I am new to this wonderful sport, and had been unsuccessful at catching even a single fish - but today was my day. I caught my first fish, and a lot more too! Little Rock Lake turned out to be a great spot to throw a fly in. Justin caught a lot of fish as well, and it was his first time fly-fishing, ever!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We played some "washers," ate a nice lunch and dinner, did some more fishing, and took a small exploratory journey around the immediate area. After listening to Justin jam out a little bit (which I wore a bandana cowboy style for) we finally decided to lie down and get some sleep. But the wind picked up and kept us awake most of the night.

The next morning we woke to a very chilly sunrise. We quickly ate breakfast, packed up, and headed out. This time around, we followed the ridge that we were supposed to follow all along. We were back to the divide in two and a half hours (it took us over four to get to our camp from the divide on the way in). Our only obstacle on this day was the 50-mile per hour wind gusts. The temperature was in the 30's along the divide, making for a frigid day. We debated whether to head to Timber Lake or not, but another big storm was moving in and we decided we would rather spend the night indoors, than spend it wet and miserable. Justin and I headed back to Milner Pass where my car was parked and we drove back to the lodge.

I wouldn't say that this was a fun or relaxing backpacking trip, but it was definitely an adventure that pushed our limits in more ways than one. The adventure took place in a truly special and beautiful setting with a wonderful old friend, in whose company I can promise you I will share many more adventures.


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All photos copyright Micahel Hodges, 2004
Map courtesy of National Geographic Topo!

Contributed by Michael Hodges
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