Lumpy Ridge / Black Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park 7/2016
photos by Sigrid Freese
photos by Sigrid Freese
Sigrid
Explored a new trail today, the Black Canyon trail from the Lumpy Ridge trail head in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. Our intended destination, MacGregor Falls, eluded us, but a very satisfying 6 mile day nonetheless. The trail winds its way along Lumpy Ridge, fantastic rock formations that are popular rock climbing sites, passing in and out of the privately owned MacGregor Ranch. Beautiful views across ranch meadows to Longs Peak and Mount Meeker. BUT, definitely a trail to hike in spring/early summer or fall. It was shady in places when we started hiking at 8 AM, but coming back the sun was pretty relentless and we stopped often in the few shady places. The fairly steady breeze helped, but I think everyone drained their entire water supply. Ruth Mosteller chose the alternate trail to Gem Lake and reported that it climbed steadily up rock and log steps. She gained about 900 ft of elevation, but stopped about 10 min. short of the lake. We'll try that another time as the trail is clearly marked. The turnoff from the Black Canyon trail to find MacGregor Falls is NOT marked, and the directions in my new trail guide are not clear. Will try again another time. |