Flat Top Mountain

Yesterday I went and hiked up to the top of Flat Top Mountain in Rocky Mtn. National Park with a friend from work. Good hike. It was something like a 9 mile hike, 4.4 out and back. Guide books said it was a "strenuous" hike, but I didn't think it was really that strenuous at all. I'd say more like a moderate hike.

We started out at Bear Lake where it's something like 9,400 ft. The first part of the hike was just a really nice walk up through the tress. The trail was really well kept down below so it was easy going. Then the piles of snow appeared and we had to march either around them or just plow right through them which was very interesting to do seeing how it's June. A couple snowball fights occurred of course. Soon the trees started fading out and we were above treeline. This is when it started getting really windy and the temperature definitely dropped (well it did for me anyway who gets cold easily). We marched on past a group of elk hanging out in a little patch of grass not too far away. And then we made it to the top, at 12,354 ft.

The view in all directions was amazing. Longs Peak was right there looking down at us where we stood admiring the scenery. We could see the western mountain ranges and wondered what was going on there. We looked at the patches of snow on the mountains all around us, many below us at this point. Lakes far below were wonderfully blue and serene. It was a great view.

And I was cold. The wind was coming from all directions. After some time of trying to stay warm and taking in everything I could it was time to go. The hike back down didn't seem to take that long at all, and soon enough we were back at Bear Lake trying to admire the lake and the mountains above it while families and other hikes yakked all around us.