Week 16: Donovan Rice ‘tears up’ in Indian Peaks, bails on iconic 14er in RMNP on the Great Colorado Route

“Lone Eagle Peak and Crater Lake are heavenly. I sat there for an hour taking in the views and literally cried in awe at the mountains”

Donovan Rice has now been hiking the Great Colorado Route for 112 days and has walked approximately 1550 miles.

His accounts during week 16’s hike included finishing out the Indian Peaks Wilderness, shedding some tears for Lone Eagle Peak and holding onto his hat, and pride, while being whipped around on Longs Peak.

Rice’s pace is still averaging about 13.84 hiking miles/day over the 16 weeks he’s been thru hiking. He should be able to increase his average after exiting Rocky Mountain National Park as he makes he way northwestward toward North Park.

Sights so beautiful it’ll make you cry

To start Day 106, Rice left Coyote Park and headed north toward Wheeler Basin.

For his first mission of the day he ascended over Hopi Pass and Hopi Peak, taking in the grand views of the high alpine before descending to Crater and Mirror lakes.

“Hopi Pass was borderline psychotic,” Rice said.

But eventually he was rewarded with less insanity and more beauty after reaching the lakes below.

“That was probably the prettiest day of the entire trip,” Rice said of hiking around Crater and Mirror lakes. “Lone Eagle Peak and Crater Lake are heavenly. I sat there for an hour taking in the views and literally cried in awe at the mountains.”

Rice decided against hiking up Paiute Pass due to drizzling rain, saying that the forecasted “lightning never materialized, but that was okay since Cascade Creek Trail was stunning, with multiple waterfalls.”

Rice hiked past four waterfalls in total on the day’s journey.

Once down Cascade Creek Trail, he went back up Buchanan Pass Trail toward Gourd Lake.

Rice said he either saw a pine marten or fisher on the way up to Gourd Lake, where he camped for the night.

Entering RMNP in an interesting way

For Day 107, Rice left the shores of Gourd Lake and cross-country hiked north, passing Island Lake while doing some light scrambling up the pass between Cooper Peak and Ooh La La Peak. By hiking north along the Continental Divide, it gave Rice a unique way of entering Rocky Mountain National Park; from the south and above treeline.

“I did the ridge walk from Ooh La La to Isolation Peak,” Rice said.

Rice said one lake stood out over the rest was, saying “I passed several lakes, but the one I really want to highlight here is Bluebird Lake, with those incredible views.”

Rice was enthusiastic about his choice of route, saying the day’s hike ended up being a “perfectly manageable day for knocking out the first part of Rocky Mountain National Park” without him having to secure backcountry camping permits.

“Ouzel Falls on the way down was also a nice treat,” Rice said.

Rice said if he had tried pushing further north along the ridge he wouldn’t have exited the park at a reasonable hour, plus said “I’m not comfortable scouting The Cleaver on this thru-hike.”

To finish out the long day, Rice got a room at the Allenspark Lodge.

Longs Peak, For The WIND!

Day 108 was a very early start for Rice as he left the comforts of his motel room before sunrise, departing Allenspark at 3 a.m., and the trailhead an hour later; nothing better than a road walk in the middle of the night.

He was hopeful to summit the last 14er on the GCR, Longs Peak. However, as luck would have it, the thru-hiking gods had other plans for Rice.

“I early-started up and over Meeker from the Sandbeach Trailhead, telling myself I need to reach the Meeker summit at 9 a.m.” Rice said. “(To start) I hiked Hunter Creek, Lyric Falls, Meeker Meadow, then the southwest ridge of Meeker.”

Everything seemed to be going as planned for Rice as he followed a social trail with lots of deadfall upstream past Lyric Falls to Meeker Meadow, then straight uphill past the Dragon’s Egg to the SW ridge.

But… “when I hit the ridge, the wind was HOWLING,” Rice said after arriving to the saddle around 8:30 a.m. “(The conditions were) not just ‘oh, the wind had a lot to say today’ but I mean ‘the wind is screaming bloody murder’.”

Rice decided to not summit Meeker, opting to direct his efforts toward Longs instead.

“I descended to the main, flat part of the Loft and the wind was still whipping super hard,” he said. “Unfortunately it was blowing up the side I planned to take down to The Notch, then up Longs, and I genuinely felt it would be unsafe to attempt.”

The forecast also told Rice the wind was to get stronger throughout the day.

“I don’t take cutting one of the most iconic stops along the route lightly,” Rice said. “This was a very serious situation. I could have rolled the dice and maybe get lucky, but I felt there was a solid chance if I went for it, it would turn into a body recovery mission halfway down Keplingers Couloir.”

Rice said every party he came across while on Mount Meeker was turning around and cutting out Longs summit bids that day.

“I decided the only safe option that keeps the hike moving forward was to take the Loft approach route down,” Rice said. “As a perk, it gave me some stunning views of Longs’ and Meeker’s cliffs, plus Chasm Lake, which I would have otherwise missed.”

Rice mentioned that Longs Peak has about a 50% failure rate, saying about today’s mishap “I guess since this was second go, I was due.”

To close out the day, Rice hiked from Chasm Lake to the East Longs Peak Trail over Granite Pass, then took the North Longs Peak Trail past Alberta Falls to Glacier Gorge Trailhead.

He picked up a ride on the free shuttle bus into Estes Park to crash out for the night.

On thing to note, Rice hiked mostly on the west side of the Continental Divide after leaving Summit County to start the week. But by week’s end, he had switched over to hiking the east side as the terrain and route dictated he do so, especially for resupplying in Allenspark and Estes Park.

For Day 109, Rice needed some rest after hiking for several days from Summit County to Rocky Mountain National Park.

He took a ‘zero’ day in Estes Park to resupply and plan his approach to exiting Rocky Mountain National Park the next day.

“I was due for one, roughly one per week,” Rice said. “I considered the hostel, but motel was more appealing for true R+R.”

Refreshed and recovered, Rice started Day 110 back on the bus, heading to the Glacier Gorge TH to hike around several of the popular lakes in the area; Bear, Nymph, Dream, Emerald and Haiyaha.

After enjoying the lakes, Rice hiked his way north over to the Moraine Park Campground.

Rice said Moraine “has bear boxes, so no bear can or backcountry permit with in-person pickup was necessary, just a rec.gov reservation.”

Moraine Park is a glacial valley within the national park, and one of the most heavily visited areas.

Three interesting facts about the valley:

• Glacial Origin: Ancient glaciers carved out this even-floored valley and left behind piles of debris and ridges as the ice melted.
• Past Resorts: Before the National Park Service restored the land to a natural meadow, parts of Moraine Park were used as a local golf course and resort.
• Elk Rut Hotspot: From mid-September to late-October, the open meadows become a prime location to watch and hear the annual elk rut mating ritual.

“I hope to come back and explore the Park deeper after the trip,” Rice said. “I got a great baseline for a bearcanless strategy and would love to see what a backcountry permit route could look like.”

Deviate from the planned route

On Day 111, Rice left Moraine Park and headed northwest toward the Lawn Lake Trailhead, shooting to get up high again to The Saddle and Hagues Peak before doing some cross-country travel to Mummy Pass.

The Lawn Lake Trail starts where Old Fall River Road begins its ascension to the Alpine Visitor Center near the top of Trail Ridge Road.

Rice hiked along the Roaring River up to Lawn Lake before hiking into the tundra again toward The Saddle, the low point between Hagues Peak to the north and Fairchild Mountain to the south.

Because Rice is logical with his planning, he decided to forego the planned GCR route that would have taken him directly north out of Estes Park on the Gem Lake and North Boundary trails up and over Stormy Peaks Pass into Pingree Park.

If he had been able to hike this section he would have been able to join the NOCO Trail near Aspen Meadow Campground, northwest of the Dunraven Trailhead; the starting point of the NOCO Trail.

The NOCO Trail is a 304-mile thru-hike trail system that starts at the Dunraven Trailhead north of Glen Haven and ends in Glenwood Springs.

But Rice had a couple of options to take once at the top of the The Saddel.

He could bushwack down to Hague Creek on the north side of The Saddle or follow the ridgeline from Hagues Peak past Rowe Glacier north to Mummy Pass, eventually linking him up with an alternative route to the main GCR route at the Mummy Pass Trail.

Rice chose the prior option.

“I had to take Hagues Creek instead of doing the Peak due to unforecasted weather,” Rice said.

For Day 112, Rice joined a segment of the NOCO Trail at the Mummy Pass Trail south of Mirror Lake, then made his way west and northwest toward Peterson Park and CO-14 on Big South Trail.

Based off of Rice’s planned GCR route, he was on course to make it to Chambers Lake by the end of the day to camp before starting week 17 hiking in the Rawah Wilderness.

Cell phone service is very spotty in this part of Colorado, and Rice only texted to the Rocky Mountain Journal a few messages over the prior two days. But he is still hiking and finding those ‘great views’ around every bend as he makes his way through the northern most section of the Great Colorado Route.

What’s ahead for Rice

Rice will start week 17 hiking along the spine of the Medicine Bow Mountains of the Rawah Wilderness starting near Cameron Pass.

Hopefully he’ll safely encounter more moose along the week’s hike seeing that this area of Colorado is moose capital of the state.

Rice’s planned GCR route keeps him on the east side of the Medicine Bow Mountains for a couple of days, where he’ll pass under Clark Peak (the highest peak in the range) and Cameron Peak, before either exiting the range at the Jack Dickens Trail or near the North Sand Hills Instant Study Area on his way to Walden.

In his own words

Most satisfying moment from week 16

• “My most satisfying moment this week was Crater Lake,” Rice said. “I literally cried from how beautiful that area is. Possibly the prettiest destination of the entire trek.”

Most challenging moment from week 16

• “The biggest challenge this week was missing the summit of Longs,” Rice said. “The decision was easy with how dangerous the winds were, but I was gutted today wasn’t the right opportunity. The summit will always be there though.”

What he’s learned from week 16

• “My biggest lesson this week was that thru-hiking Rocky Mountain National Park isn’t too logistically challenging if you know how and where to exit the park each night,” Rice said.