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Our guide book (Erik Stensland's "Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park") offered several good choices for our final day here. We settled on the "Odessa Hike," with a one-way distance of 9.2 miles, 1400 feet of climbing and 2700 feet of descent. The shuttle system enabled this hike, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to bridge the space between the end and the beginning on the return. The entirety of the hike was very nice. Parts were spectacular, especially the early-morning views across Bear Lake just beyond the trailhead, and a wonderful overlook as we crested at 10,700 feet, about 3 miles in. Trail traffic was comfortable. We made our earliest start of the visit, getting to the trailhead at 8:30 AM, which allowed us to drive directly to the Bear Lake trailhead, where the popularity is so great that the very large lot has been filling by about 9 AM. We also experienced our only meaningful rain during the three days of hiking. Fortunately, it was just frequent light sprinkles that only left us uncertain about whether or not to bring out our more protective clothing. Overall, the three days of hiking were great and each day was better than the one before.
Today we visited the southeast corner of the park, starting at the Wild Basin Trailhead. We intended to hike an easy 5.4 mile out-and-back to Ouzel Falls. Because of the early start and the good hiking conditions, we decided to continue and hiked out-and-back to Ouzel Lake, a round-trip of 10 miles with about 2000 feet of climbing.
We're pushed by the limited parking and high park usage to get an early start. Today, we had breakfast at 7 AM, we on the road just before 8 AM, and arrived at the trail head a bit before 9. The weather forecast included a chance of thundershowers starting at 3 PM. We got back to the trailhead at 3:30 and were back at the hotel in time for free afternoon cookies, just after 4 PM. As of 5 PM, the storms haven't arrived, but it's good not to push our luck with summer afternoon hiking.
I probably had some mild "acute mountain sickness." The onset, at 8 PM last night, was marked by a a dull and persistent headache. I also had GI discomfort including mild nausea. After sleeping not-too-well, I was still feeling out of sorts through breakfast, the drive to the trailhead, and about the first hour of hiking. But as suddenly as it came on, it also cleared, and so from 10 AM onward, I have felt well again. Weird that the symptoms didn't come on, for example, when we were hiking at 12,000 feet yesterday. (Today's hike was between 8500 and 10,000 feet. We're staying in Estes Park, which is at about 7500 feet.)
We hiked the Haiyaha Loop, from the Bear Lake trailhead. Our version had an official distance of about 6.3 miles, with about 1200 feet of elevation gain. The altitude slowed us down — the hike was centered at about 10,000 feet elevation. It included several scenic lakes (Nymph, Dream, Emerald, Haiyaha) and long passages through heavy forest. The beginning and end were quite crowded and in the morning the seniors were out in force -- we seemed to be among the younger hikers!
After getting back to the car, about 3:30 PM, we drove the Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center well above the tree line. We made a short climb about a half mile to the local summit, 12,000 feet. I don't think either Ingrid or I have been this high except in Nepal!
