My bro-in-law, nephew, son and I hiked the Bowen/Baker Loop for four days in Colorado's Arapaho National Forest. It is on the west side of RMNP. Although the trail is about 20 miles we made the trip longer and more interesting with afternoon hikes to the top ridges. We camped most of the time around 10,000 ft, hiked peaks above 11,000ft and peaked at 12,000ft. What a trip it was with flowers galore, awesome views, shear drops, great weather and time well spent with the boys. Early afternoon brought a little rain and hail. I learned a lesson in setting the tarp up in a porch mode. It held up fine to the extra weight but I changed it after it stopped hailing. We had no issues finding places for four to hang. Count on getting lots of sap on the tree straps, it's all pines. As for animals, most of what we saw in the back country were moose. There was a close encounter with a cougar by folks we ran into. I believe it was after their dog. Other then that things were very relaxed with no particular schedule or campsite restrictions. The Baker Gulch Trail was extremely rocky on the lower end which made for tough walking. The rest of the trail was in pretty good shape. Fortunately most of our trip was spent near or above tree line. These are just some of the pictures I took. There are quite a few so enjoy what you can. http://www.flickr.com/photos/99986349@N07/
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Oms
Bookmarks