Rocky Mountain N.P Day 2–Wild Basin Area

 

The Rocky Mountain National Park is large and has many hiking opportunities,so we had to chose from the best hikes to the very best.

We consulted with a lady that knows the park well enough to give us some advise and it came down to this:

A.Bear Lake area (Alberta Falls + 3 Lakes) we did that yesterday, see previous post.

B.Wild Basin Area (Copland Falls,Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls) did it today.

C. Northern RMNP area (Bridal Veil Falls)  will do.

To get to the trail head You will need to enter the National Park at the "Wild Basin" Entrance. This is the Southern most entrance on the East side of the Park, about 20 minutes South of Estes Park on Hwy 7. From the entrance to the Park, you will follow a dirt road around Copeland Lake, following North St. Varian Creek until you reach the Wild Basin Ranger Station and Trailhead.

This 5.4 Mile Round trip hike is all along North St. Varian Creek with roaring waters and partly shady trail, it starts from an elevation of 15’ up to 950’ at the Ouzel falls.

After 0.3 Miles from the T/H we reached the Copeland Falls ,although all the way many cascades and falls can be seen and it if there would not be a sign saying “Copeland Falls” one could imagine that they are else where.

Al along the trail it was possible to get close to the river ,walk on the rocks and take a brake under a tree ,it is sure one of the best hikes we took lately.

Another 1.5 Miles brought us to Calypso Cascades,a beautiful strong stream making its way down.

Along the hike we pasted through beautiful meadows,bridges,water passes,all added to the whole atmosphere on this great day.

 

Even now after hiking many waterfalls in the last 13 years I still get exited watching this natural powerful miracle and it was not different this time as we made the last 0.9 mile gaining another 250’ from the Calypso Cascades to Ouzel Falls.

First you hear the strong roar of falling water and then suddenly after a turn on the trail it appeared in front of us in full size .

It was the end of the trail but found an unmarked way to get closer as much as we could with out getting a “shower”.

We took the time to sit on this rock and take it “all in” before heading down to the trail head where we left the truck.

If Newton did not discover gravity would it be easy to go uphill ???

Any how this was one of the great hike and waterfalls we have seen, even if we had to wear our raincoats on the way out when we were having our traditional picnic after a hike…