 |
| Mount Wuh from the open slopes of Flattop Mountain |
On the 15th of February I headed out with Zach and Mandy up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The goal for the day was to snowshoe to the summit of Mount Wuh. It was a bit overcast and quite windy, but we were warm enough, especially when we were moving.
 |
| Heading toward the saddle |
I hadn't been up to Bear Lake in the winter in quite some time and I was shocked at how much snow was up there. Rocky Mountain National Park had gotten a lot of snow over the winter and this was probably the most snow I had ever seen at Bear Lake. It sure made for some good snowshoeing. We followed the trail above the lake and around the ridge coming down off of Flattop Mountain following only a few tracks in front of us. The trail was easy to follow--even if there hadn't been tracks--until it came to the large, open slope on Flattop. At that point there was no sign as to where the trail crossed the slope or where it might reenter the trees on the other side.
 |
| Wind blasting the summit |
This was of no concern to us because this was the point we chose to leave the trail for Mount Wuh. Not long before leaving the trail we had run into a ranger and found out we had been mispronouncing the name of the mountain. She told us it was pronounce like "woo," but we still liked calling it "wuh." We headed for the saddle between Mount Wuh and Joe Mills Mountain and Round Pond that sat in that saddle. It was fun not following any tracks and finding our own way through the forest. I wasn't sure if we would actually come to the saddle or just start up the mountain because of our route, be we seemed to find the saddle and Round Pond without any difficulties.
From Round Pond we continued making our own way up toward the summit. Once there, and more exposed to the elements, we were really blasted with wind. We stayed as long as we could taking in the views toward Trail Ridge and the Mummy Range, along the Continental Divide, and over to Glacier Gorge and Longs Peak. After we had endured as much of the wind as we could handle we followed our tracks back down.
 |
| Trail Ridge and Forest Canyon |
At some point in the forest, before we had gotten back to the trail, we ran into a group of about five guys snowshoeing up our trail. We asked where they were headed and they said they were trying to get to Lake Helene. I explained to them that the trail they were on was our trail to the summit of Mount Wuh. They had heavy accents and really only one guy talked with us. They sounded European. They walked a little ways and then stopped to pull out their map. The guy we had been talking to was explaining to the group what we had explained to him. Before we could leave they decided to carry on following our trail. I still wonder if they made it up Wuh. It could have gotten dark on their return if they went the whole way.
 |
| Longs, Pagoda, and Chiefs Head from left to right |
Before long we were back on the open slope and easily found the trail where it entered the trees. We then followed the trail back to Bear Lake. Before we could leave Zach wanted to go stand out in the middle of the lake. It's always a bit odd standing on an icy lake. It takes a bit to wrap my mind around it, but it was neat standing out there and watching the snow wisp up and blow across the lake right into our faces and then race behind us toward the shore of the lake. It was also nice to get a view from the middle of the lake as most people, especially when the lake is not frozen, just get a view from the shores. We had an adventurous day and had a little fun before getting back in the car.
Elevation gain: 1300' Total gain: 27,635'
No comments:
Post a Comment