Alan and I rode to Odessa Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park three years ago. In fact, we rode a little past Odessa to take a peek at Fern Lake. The Cameron Peak Fire had caused significant wildfire damage around Fern Lake. I wrote about our first foray to Odessa Lake. It is a very technical trail. At one point, our adrenalin was pumping enough that we decided to dismount and walk the horses along the rocky, steep trail. That wasn’t the best idea either, as the horses are trained to walk next to us. Going down was more nerve-wracking than coming back up.
For whatever reason, we decided we wanted to repeat this experience! In past blogs, I have mentioned how difficult it is to find private trailer parking in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our options this year prompted us to park close to Sprague Lake and take a counterclockwise route to Bierstadt Lake and then on to Odessa Lake. We love to ride up the switchbacks to Bierstadt Lake, so it wasn’t a difficult decision. This is the latest we have still been in Colorado and able to ride in RMNP. We were looking forward to seeing the beautiful golden aspen leaves.
A cold, cold windy day
The weatherman told us that the high would be 71 degrees. Alan had heard that it was supposed to be windy, but I missed that memo. Windy is the ultimate understatement… it was gale force winds. If you need to do this to be able to ride your horse in windy conditions, you won’t want to ride in the Colorado mountains!
We had to get a Timed Entry Pass to access the Bear Lake Corridor, and our admittance window was between 6 and 8 AM. We started tacking up around 8:15 AM. It was COLD, and I mean COLD. I left home with a long-sleeved T-shirt and a flannel shirt. I added two fleece jackets over that and I could barely bend my arms! Initially, I put my HitAir vest over the first three layers and added the last fleece jacket over my vest. That meant that I couldn’t zip the outer jacket, but I really thought it would warm up and I would be taking that off. I was wrong.
The Bierstadt Trailhead
It is slightly over a mile from where we parked to the official Bierstadt Lake Trailhead. We wind around Sprague Lake and ride through the forest and over a wooden bridge to reach the Trailhead. There is a pit toilet there. Alan held the horses and I headed to the bathroom. Never have I sat on a pit toilet and received an air enema! I was suddenly aware of this blast of cold air coming from the pit. That was a first. How sad is it that there must be a sign telling peopleto use the toilet and not the floor?
Alan decided to take advantage of his opportunity as well. I’m standing with my back to the wind, holding the horses and freezing while I wait. He comes out and the first thing out of his mouth is a comment about the arctic wind on his tush! We mount up and start up the switchbacks. There is only a brief section of forest before you begin winding your way up the mountain.
Forty MPH gusts and beautiful aspen leaves
I devoted a significant amount of time in my video to the Bierstadt switchbacks. The views are breathtaking. Although it is a steady climb, it isn’t excessive and the horses do great. There are at least a dozen 180-degree turns as you climb. The wind was so fierce that trees were rubbing together and making a squeaking sound. Listen for it on the video. We encountered two or three couples who were hiking.
It takes 25-30 minutes to traverse the switchbacks, and then you are back in the forest. If you want to see Bierstadt Lake, there is a hitching rack and an easy quarter-mile hike to the lake. For this ride, we had another destination in mind. The forest provided some break from the wind but robbed us of the sun. At some point, I moved my fourth layer of clothing to under my vest so that I could zip it up.
Some bushwacking and tree trimming
After leaving Bierstadt but before reaching our turn to go up to Odessa Lake, we passed several hikers. They warned us that a tree was down across the trail. It wasn’t long before we encountered the obstacle. I sent Kadeen up the hill to see if there was a way around it. There wasn’t… not without some effort on our part. Alan came to our rescue and was able to clear enough of the accessory branches that we could get across. The horses were rockstars. You can see the entire thing unfold in the video.
The sign at the Odessa Lake Trailhead indicates that it is 3.6 miles up to Odessa Lake. We had covered about the same amount at that point. The Flattop Mountain Trail branches off from the Odessa Lake trail. This is the route we took when Kadeen and I crossed the Continental Divide in 2014. The trail climbs steadily from that point on. We briefly toyed with the idea of aborting our plan to go to Odessa as we were still very cold… but we opted to press on.
The final stretch to Odessa Lake is incredibly technical
The beginning of the trail to Odessa is pretty standard stuff… for the Rocky Mountains. The trail is no more than several feet wide and for most of it, there is a significant dropoff on one side or the other. Rocks abound, although in the beginning, there is some dirt scattered around the rocks. As you approach the final section, the trail is no more than 2 feet wide and is solid rock and shale. The dropoff is steep, and all that is between you and oblivion is a manmade rock wall about 8 inches high.
On the other side of the dropoff, large boulders line up like soldiers, sometimes hanging over the trail. It was because of an overhead boulder that we decided to dismount and walk the first time. The horses took it all in stride and showed no additional stress when we reached this portion of the trail. The wind was still howling fiercely, and we were cold to the bone. My teeth were chattering.
That little voice…
In the video, you will hear me remark, “This is the section I was remembering…” We started down the final section of the trail. This is a photo from our first ride a few years ago. The sun was in a better place to illuminate the trail. I had the GoPro running the entire time we were on this section. You really can’t appreciate the rocks on the trail as we head down… but when we come back, you can see the terrain more clearly.
Alan and I ride some very technical trails. We have great horses and we have put a significant amount of trail miles on both of them. We are both in our late 60s and enjoying each other and our blessed life immensely. Nevertheless, we are not foolish. We do everything we can to mitigate the risks we take. For us, that means HitAir vests, helmets, and ID-MyHorse Emergency Information tags. We trust our horses and we are rarely “cranking adrenalin” on the trails we ride.
This time was a little bit different. As we headed down this rocky, narrow, cliff-hugging trail, I heard a voice in my head. “You should turn around. Don’t push the envelope today.” In all of the riding I have done, I have never “heard” that voice. An extra bit of adrenalin, yes. But “TURN AROUND!”, no. One of many things you (hopefully) learn as you get older is to listen to your inner voice.
There were precious few places on this crazy trail to even think about turning around. As we approached a section of the trail that boasted an extra few feet of real estate, I stopped Kadeen. I hadn’t told Alan about my inner voice. What I did was ask him if he wanted to turn around. I received a resounding “YES!” We were both so darn cold. At this point, I didn’t have time to process why I suddenly had misgivings. I just knew we should turn around.
Watch the reversal on the video. My gelding has buttons on his buttons, although I didn’t cue him appropriately for what I wanted him to do. I guess my brain was a bit occupied. We did manage to get turned around without mishap and headed back.
After we crossed the two large boulder fields and found ourselves in “easier” terrain, I started to process what had just happened. I think at some level I recognized that a very cold, super windy day was probably not the best time to get into trouble. We were late in the season and there were very few hikers on the trail. Mostly, I think our heavenly Father was watching over us and told me to turn around. We had done the entire trail before and even if we hadn’t… we had nothing to prove to ourselves or anyone else.
I didn’t escape without some damage
At some point (I think it was on the way to Odessa Lake) I realized a one-inch diameter stick was attempting to skewer my leg. I’ve been wearing these awesome breaches for years, and at most they have suffered with a snag or two. I have never ripped them like this. I think the stick speared the stretchy pants and simply grazed me. When the forward motion of the horse exceeded the stretchability of the pants, this was the result.
Onward to Bear Lake
The trail to Bear Lake splits not long before you reach the paved, one-mile path around the lake. Stock is supposed to go one way, hikers the other. The problem is, summer after summer the stock trail is impassable due to deadfall. We tell the Rangers, but the next summer the story is the same. We finally decided not to even attempt to take the stock trail, but instead to follow the hiking trail on down. That dumps us out right on the paved Bear Lake Trail.
The families and the tourists go crazy over the horses. We’re used to folks getting excited when they see elk, and to some extent even when they see deer. But our two horses end up being photographed multiple times whenever we ride in the park. We ride past the Ranger Station and take the sidewalk to the point at the beginning of the parking lot where our stock trail resumes.
We had barely accessed the stock trail when we encountered another tree in the way. Alan managed to move it enough that it was low enough for the horses to step over it. I suspect the liveries use that trail extensively, but the one in the park is closed for the season. I’m sure the wranglers maintain the stock trails they like to use.
From Bear Lake to Sprague Lake, the trail is mostly in the woods and very easy. We were starting to be able to feel our toes by this point. Here is the summary of our ride… Note the FORTY-ONE DEGREE temperature noted when I started my watch. Also note that the brown section of this map denotes that you are above the treeline and on a rock!.
The weatherman was a bit more accurate than we thought, as this is what the truck registered when we got back. Nevertheless, this was one of the most miserable rides for temperature comfort that we have done in a long time!
If, after reading my account, you’d like to ride along with us, watch the video. You might want to put on your winter coat before you watch it! Also… we’d like other horses and riders to be safety-conscious, even if you don’t ride the extreme trails that we do. Free shipping on ID-MyHorse Emergency tags (orders of two or more tags) until the end of September.
