North Inlet - Divide - Tonahutu Loop in RMNP

North Inlet - Divide - Tonahutu Loop


Today I ran the classic Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) loop: the North Inlet to the Divide to Tonahutu Creek and around. The loop is also called the Continental Divide Loop Trail, as it spends a fair bit of time on the Divide between the North Inlet basin and the Tonahutu basin. I did the loop from the North Inlet trailhead, going up the North Inlet trail first. This trail is really runnable, as it gently climbs up the valley past meadows, small waterfalls, and thick forest. After 7 miles you hit a junction, where you take a left and go for another 5.8 miles to the top of Flattop Mountain (12,324'). This section of the trail is really nice, as it climbs up into the upper North Inlet basin, then eventually drops you onto the Divide just below Otis Peak (12,486'). You can easily tag Otis Peak, and then keep going north along the Divide either on the well maintained trail or on the actual Divide if you want to tag Hallet Peak (12,713'), then Flattop, then Notchtop Mountain (12,129') before finally descending across Big Horn Flats and into the Tonahutu basin. Since I was running for time, I only tagged Flattop. Once you are in the Tonahutu basin, it is a nice 12 miles back down to your car at the North Inlet trail. I saw lots of wildlife, including 3 moose, several elk, marmots, osprey, pikas, ptarmigan, and tourists! Actually, I was mildly surprised by how little people I ran into, since it was a Sunday in RMNP in July. I ran into one backpacking group climbing up Hallet Creek to the Divide, several parties on the Divide itself, and then about 4 parties around Big Meadows on Tonahutu Creek. Really, a quiet day in the mountains. The loop comes in at 26 miles with 5,963' of gain and 5,963' of loss. A big day in the mountains for sure, but a real classic loop mountain run if there ever was one. I did it in 5 hours and 37 minutes today, with stops for photos and to empty the shoes.

 There are a million of these little ponds on the way up the North Inlet

 Andrews Peak on the climb up

 Some elk grazing on the way up.

 Looking back down the North Inlet

 Otis Peak in the background - running along the Divide

 The notch of Notchtop Mountain - the Mummy Range is in the background

 The Divide with Longs in the background

 Looking north towards the Tonahutu basin and Sprague Mountain

 Starting to drop down into the Tonahutu basin with the Never Summer in the background

Big Meadows looking north.

Early Season Mountain Running - Shadow Mountain in RMNP

Early Season Mountain Running - Shadow Mountain In Rocky Mountain National Park 

Yesterday, Tara and I went to run Shadow Mountain, which lies on the outskirts of Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a good early season (or in this year's case, late season because of the snow pack) mountain run to get you ready for the higher peaks. The views from the Shadow Mountain Lookout Tower are also well worth the run, and if you do it on a weekday you are most likely to have the entire mountain and ~12 miles trail system to yourself. 

The below description is for running from the Shadow Mountain Dam side. For running from the Grand Lake side, see here. 

Views along Shadow Mountain Reservoir 

From the trailhead, run on the east shore of Shadow Mountain Lake for approximately 1.7 miles to a signed fork in the trail. Go right to start the Shadow Mountain Trail. Run uphill on the Shadow Mountain Trail for 3.2 miles to the saddle between the small rise which holds the Shadow Mountain Lookout Tower and the summit of Shadow Mountain. The Shadow Mountain Lookout Tower is only 0.1 mile to the west so it's worth a quick visit. Otherwise, run/bush whack up from the saddle 0.45 mile southeast to the summit of Shadow Mountain. From the top, it is all downhill... On this day it took us 2 hours and 12 minutes to do the roundtrip, and we stopped plenty along the shore on the way back to enjoy the water. 

Climbing through the thick forest

Views from the top looking at Grand Lake and the Never Summer Range 

Cruzing down... 

The numbers for those who care.... 

Distance Roundtrip: ~12 miles roundtrip 

Start Elevation: ~8,400 feet 

High Point: ~9,966 feet 

Total climbing and descending: ~4,778 feet 

Difficulty: Medium Other People Factor: Minimal 

Time: 2 - 5 hours depending on how often you stop to enjoy the views.

Chaos Canyon Bouldering: Tommy's Arete in RMNP

On Friday Tara and I went up into the Park to check conditions and see what the snow was doing. Surprisingly, there is still a ton of snow in Chaos - both Lower and Upper. The Gobot area is burried, Stars and Stripes is just emerging, the Bush Pilot was completely under snow, and so on. Luckily, Tommy's Arete was dry, so we did a couple laps on that before heading down canyon to some stuff that was dry.






Everything else in Chaos is pretty much still snowed in for a couple more weeks. If we get some hot weather, it could melt out faster.

Colorado Alpine Bouldering: Alternatives to RMNP and Evans

Let's talk secret bouldering areas for a second. After word got out back in the 90s about Rocky Mountain National Park bouldering - Chaos Canyon, Upper Chaos, Moraine Park boulders, the boulders at the bottom of the Diamond and down valley, Upper Thunder Basin, Emerald Lake boulders, and others - traffic in the Park really started to pick up. Now, if you go up there on a weekend, you might as well just go to the gym as there are on average 50+ people climbing in the Chaos Canyon area alone.

Groups of industrious boulderers began to hunt out other high alpine bouldering areas in the hopes of finding more gems, classic lines, and a break from the crowds and hot summer temps. Evans - although already known - became another Front Range favorite as it has more moderate problems and landings then the Park. Guanella Pass also got a second or third look. Swissco was found and developed, although the long 4x4 road has kept it fairly quiet despite it having some major undone roof problems. A couple other places were also found and developed: the Eldora walls, Empire boulders, Cameron Pass, and the Keystone boulders.

The Keystone boulders are one of those gems that seems to be holding out from massive amounts of Front Range traffic. Situated at 10,000 feet, they offer a unique opportunity to boulder in a forested slope and fairly cool environment for those hot summer days. Many lines remain undone, some have already been sent, and a few still need to be found. So, although they are buried under a few feet of snow right now, here are a few pictures from last summer to entice you...