Walking around the lake we always come upon wildflowers.This is King’s Crown (Rhodiola integrifolia) which is a stonecrop.
Purple stem angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)
And finally a wild foxglove (Penstemon cobaea).We love this lake.
Jan and I drove over Trail Ridge road to Lake Irene which is on the right beyond the Milner Pass parking lot.
For our final adventure Gordon took us (Blake, Will and Muns) on the Camp Dick 4 WD road.Gordon and I had done this trip several yers ago. The Camp Dick turnoff is opposite Pleasant Valley on the Peak to Peak highway. Camp Dick is a National Forest Campground. Its trails are popular because you can take your dogs along.The road starts at the Camp Dick trailhead and parallels the Buchanan Pass hiking trail with a beautiful stream, the Middle St, Vrain River, in between. Gordon and I were in his ’89Range rover and the boys and Muns (Dave Monroe, who is Gordon’s High School friend and hockey teammate on the Kirkwood Pioneers) were in Daves new Jeep. Here is the Range Rover at the trailhead.
Afte adjusting the air pressure in the tires down to 22 we accessed the start of the road which is made extra difficult to keep out the two wheel drive cars and trucks.
To make it passable some small and medium sized rocks were moved to create several mini ramps. A new found friend who was also about to start gave us a hand.
Then with Blake as the spotter of the day Gordon led the way through.
Followed by Dave.
The road was entirely different than the last time Gordon and I were here. It was much more difficult and chaotic. The saving grace was that by airing down , this time the ride was much smoother so I was much less twisted than the last time. There were very few easy stretches - always a huge boulder threatening our differential. Blake was a truly expert spotter getting us through impossible stretches.
The Middle St. Vrain River was ever present to our right.
And the frequent ponds on the road made it interesting.
On our previous Camp Dick trip Gordon and I met some ingenious 4WD guys from Omaha. They have become famous for introducing us to what they called “The Game Changer”. They had a RoadPro portable oven which cooked their lunch while they were navigating the rocky road. I bought Gordon one that Christmas and he has gifted most of his adventurous friends.So as we got to our lunch spot we unveiled the Game changer. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and had been cooking our lunch of brats and hot sausage all morning. It maintains a temp of 300 degrees.
A hot lunch was ready.
Relaxing with our lunch beside the stream we were at the top of our game.
The Middle St. Vrain didn’t care.
Gordon surprised us with a gourmet treat for dessert: a Milky Way.
After our sumptuous repast we were ready for the more difficult part of the road. There was a fork in the road and as Yogi Berra has suggested, “We took it”.The road got narrower and steeper and of course it started to sprinkle.
We arrived at the 'major obstruction' remembered from our last trip as a ‘graveyard’. This had taken us the better part of an hour and a half to get through for various reasons the last time. We got stuck in one spot for twenty minutes where someone finally helped us out by strategically placing one stone the size of a softball which allowed us to go through.
After moving a few rocks to make some mini ramps Gordon went straight up the middle this time despite some rain making the rocks slippery. Muns had no trouble either.Soon we were at Coney Flats with a beautiful view of Sawtooth Mountain in the background.
And Will drove the Rangie through a large pond with some hidden obstructions.Unbelievably the road got worse on the way down to the exit at Peak to Peak Highway.After some hairy spots we came to the Reservoir at the bottom and pressured back up. Still it was easier than a few years ago. Great fun with my boys.
Long Lake is my choice for the most beautiful lake anywhere. It is nestled below Navaho and Apache Mountains in the Indian Peaks area in Roosevelt and Arapahoe National forests south of Rocky Mountain National Park near Ward Colorado. The required Timed entry ticket to the Long Lake Trailhead is one of the most coveted and hard to get. This year Chris got the ticket and we met him in the Brainard Lake parking area. We transferred to one car and went to the trailhead.
Its always exciting to enter an area where there are moose, bears, and cougars lurking.
We are starting at an elevation of well over 11,000 feet. The trail to Long Lake is a short quarter mile. From there I have gone to both Lake Isabelle and to Pawnee Pass, which looks over at Monarch Lake and Lake Granby Reservoir on the other side of the divide. Today we are here for a picnic by the lake.
and then to the lake itself with the Indian Peaks in the background.
As you can imagine there are flowers everywhere. This one is called elephantella (Pedicularis groenlandica).Each flower has a long, pointed beak which curves upward, superficially resembling the trunk of an elephant, and the lateral lobes of the flower resemble an elephant's ears.
Working our way to the lake we found one of many sand beaches.
It was great place for lunch. Lake Isabelle is on the other side of the ridge.
Its a great place for taking photographs.
Or talking a nap in the shade.
While Jan rested Chris and I went looking for wildflowers. There were pale gentian (Gentiana alba).
and Indian paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora).
and alpine Bistort which I have enjoyed in the arctic.
The beauty of Long Lake and its setting is extraordinary. It is two miles around the lake. The lighting is constantly changing.I always walk the trail back in a state of some melancholy.There are some peaceful ponds at the base of the outflow stream.When we get back there are two pleasant girls from Kyrgistan. They have four sacks filled with large brown discs. These are porcini mushrooms which they have been hunting.
They tell me that porcini mushrooms grow here every year in August. They are an excellent source of protein. The cook them with olive oil and herbs in a stove top pan. They also dehydrate them saying that they last four months. When I ask them where they found them like good fishermen when asked about where the fish are they said, "they are in the forest up there".
Just down from Long Lake is Brainard Lake
And here is a pano of the area from Brainard Lake.
Ken and I tried the Cow Creek Trail parking lot again. This time therefore several parking places.
