In The Shadow of Longs Peak
Sprague Lake to Boulder Brook Loop
23 October 2011
This has become one of my personal favorites in Rocky Mountain National Park, a loop of about 9 miles, starting at Sprague Lake, winding through Glacier Gorge and back down to Sprague Lake via the Prospect Canyon Trail.
An aside here. A year ago in the fall, we attempted this loop but were turned back by crotch-high post holing! Not today though!
We start at the Sprague Lake trailhead. Perfect weather for hiking: Sunny, not much wind, cool but not cold.
We start up the trail and reach the first junction: Sprague Lake / Storm Pass/ Prospect Canyon / Boulder Brook convergence point. We turn left. Then, at the next junction, we turn right onto the Boulder Brook Trail.
Boulder Brook is the nearly perfect mountain stream, littered with rocks but hardly no downed trees. When I was in about 3rd grade, I saw a drawing of a brook with rocks and flowers…and I like to think that Boulder Brook was indeed the brook in that picture.
Anyway, up we go and before long the trail starts to climb, still hugging the brook. I slow way down…it seems like I am unusually slow today which is not surprising seeing that I have not hiked for a weeks…but I keep moving forward, first one foot then the next.
Soon we cross the brook on a log: Last year, this was the start of the snow. None today though! On we go, thru pines and aspen…and cross the brook again, still continuing upward, though the trail is not as steep.
The trail is quite well maintained and looks like it gets a fair amount of use, though I don’t think we have never actually seen anyone else on this part of the trail.
Every so often, it seems like we are about to pop out on a high point, but never do. We also pass by a couple of back-country campsites but do not check them out. Now we are at the Granite Pass Trail Junction where we turn west and continue.
Before long we cross Boulder Brook again where there is some very nice ice buildup. I take a few snapshots and cross. Gary points out some cool icicles forming under the bridge and I take one last shot. (There were also icicles forming above the bridge but these photos came out blurry.
We continue along. The trail is now traversing and we can see into Chaos Canyon and the glacier at it’s head, Tyndall Glacier as well as what I expect is Taylor Glacier. I take a few panoramic shots and continue. Next stop is the prospect canyon crossing – a really cool gorge, though I have never been able to get any good pictures here and today is the same – the gorge is in shadow and everything is flat!
On we go, joining up to the Glacier Gorge trail and, after a few miles, we are at Alberta Falls. I have a couple of old photos of these falls but today they are in shadow so no photos.
Down we go to Glacier Gorge Junction and the Prospect Canyon Trail. After getting a bit chilled along the Granite Pass Trail, its warm again. And, as usual, this trail seems long. There is a pond, a couple of wetlands, at toward the top, there is a bridge across Prospect Canyon proper. There are lots of downed trees just above us and we wonder if it was due to this years’ spring runoff. We continue down, reaching the car with the last little bit retracing our steps are the start.
A wonderful hike! We head to the burrito place in Estes Park for a well-deserved dinner.