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  Teton Hikes and 2026 Mt. Vancouver Reunion at Rocky Mountain National Park

In 2025, we had a 50th year reunion of the members of our 1975 Mt. Vancouver climb. See the separate show for that event. We all had such a good time that we decided to get together again in 2026. This time, we held the event at the Moraine Park Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately Bart, Lucy, and Harriet were not able to attend. But we were joined for part of the time by Megan Ancker and George Kocur and his wife Katie. The participants, in addition to the above, were John Yates, Margaret Haydon, Cliff Cantor, Pauline Cantor, Hal Murray, and myself (Craig Walker).

The week before the event at RMNP, John Yates, Hal Murray, Bob Arundale and I planned to do a backpack on Segment 25 of the Colorado Trail. But the weather reports called for a southern storm. In fact, Socorro got around 5 inches, more than half our annual allotment. But the Tetons were predicted to have clear weather so we changed our target to a loop to the Green Lakes on the east side of the Tetons in Wyoming. We stayed with friends of John near Tetonia, ID, on Sept. 23 and started hiking the next day. Unfortunately John had a problem with his knee not far into the hike, so we retreated to the car. We car camped in Teton Canyon where Bob hurt his back. The following day we started the drive back to Boulder. On the way, Hal and I did a hike to Ski Lake while the other two recuperated at the car. We continued to Dubois, WY where we spent the night. The following day, we drove to Boulder with a stop at the National Museum of Military Vehicles.

After a couple of days in Boulder, we proceeded to the Rocky Mountain National Park where we had campsites reserved in Moraine Park Campground from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5. We were joined by the Cantors and Megan. Each day, we did a hike. On Oct. 30, after establishing camp, we walked up the Cub Lake Trail from camp. There were lots of elk in the valley below camp. About 1.5 miles up the trail, in the Cub Creek valley, we ran into another herd of elk, complete with large bull, lounging on the trail. We decided to turn around there. On Oct. 1, we drove to the park and ride and rode the shuttle bus to Bear Lake to hike to Emerald Lake. That night, we enjoyed a dinner at the house of George Kocur and Katie. On Oct. 2, we drove the Trail Ridge Road to the Ute Trail, which we followed to close to Tombstone Ridge. Unlike the other hikes, this one was above timber line. On Oct. 3, we returned to Bear Lake for the hike to Mills and Jewel Lakes. On Oct. 4, we again returned to Bear Lake for the hike to Lake Helene.

We dispersed on Oct. 5. I drove over the Trail Ridge Road and made my way to Silverthrone on back roads, thus avoiding the congestion around Denver. After a short stretch of I 70, I picked up State 91 to Leadville from which I followed our usual route home from Snowmass ski trips through Buena Vista, Alamosa, Espanola, and Santa Fe. The whole drive took an elapsed time of 13.5 hours. The fall colors were spectacular north of I 70. And there was snow on the upper reaches of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The crowds in Rocky Mountain National Park were quite a contrast to what we get in our local Magdalena Mountains. The main roads were subject to timed entry restrictions. There were so many people going to Bear Lake that most, including us, had to park at the park and ride and take the bus. These were fairly large buses with many pople standing, with one going every 7 minutes. That's a lot of people. In contrast, on Oct. 11, Joan and I hiked FR 39, the trail from the Water Canyon Campground to North Baldy in the Magdalenas (We turned around at an old, broken, cabin at about 3.6 miles). This is one of the more popular trails in the area. We saw a grand total of one other couple with their dog, and they were friends from work.

The photos here were taken either with my Sony DSC-RX100M7 (file names start with SON0) or with my iPhone SE3 (file names start with IMG_). A "G" at the end of the file name means I tweaked it with The Gimp. The tweaks were usually to adjust the exposure or to bring up the shadow areas or get some contrast in the clouds. An "RT" means that I started from a raw file using Raw Therapee.
 

Click on the image for a screen size version.

Bob, John, and Hal starting toward Green Lakes in the Tetons.	Resting before John's knee trouble.	The west side of the Tetons. Left to right, the peaks are Mt. Owen, the Grand Teton, Middle Teton and South Teton.	Along the Ski Lake Trail that starts at Phillips Ridge, near Teton Pass on Highway 22.
Ski Lake.	Hal and fall colors on on a new trail connecting the Ski Lake Trail to the Phillips Pass Trail, allowing us to do a loop.	Some more fall colors on the new connecting trail.	The Tetons and fall colors from the east side of the range. This was taken from the Glacier View Turnout. The high peak is the Grand Teton.
At the Museum of Military Vehicles. They have a rather impressive collection.	While in Boulder, we helped Margaret unload a kiln.	Megan, Cliff, Pauline, and Hal on the Cub Lake Trail during our first day in the RMNP.	Nymph Lake on the trail to Emerald Lake.
Cliff and Pauline on the Emerald Lake Trail.	Along Tyndall Creek on the Emerald Lake Trail. Hallett Peak in the background.	Dream Lake and Hallett Peak on the Emerald Lake hike.	Megan and some colorful aspens between Dream Lake and Emerald Lake.
Emerald Lake.	A Canada Jay begging for treats at Emerald Lake where we had lunch. Identified on-line so may be wrong. My other bird photos of a fairly similar bird seem to be a Clark's Nutcracker.	Myself, Megan, and Hal at Bear Lake at the end of the Emerald Lake hike.	Photo of myself at Bear Lake at the end of the Bear Lake hike.
Dinner at George and Katie's place. Left to right - Katie, George, Hal, John, Cliff, Pauline, and Megan. I was behind the camera.	Some of the elk in the valley below the campground. The area was fenced, at least toward the campground. I don't know if the fence went all the way around the herd. Anyway, there were elk in the valley and deer in camp.	Looking down from the Trail Ridge Road at Rainbow Curve toward the Fall River Valley.	Cliff at the start of the Ute trail with the parked cars along the Trail Ridge Road in the background.
Katie, Cliff, Pauline, and George on the Ute Trail.	Pauline and Cliff relaxing on the Ute Trail.	A mule deer buck in camp.	Cliff on the trail to Mills Lake with fall colors.
I nice patch of color.	Cliff and a nice weathered tree near Glacier Falls on the trail to Mills Lake.	Mills Lake.	Hal relaxing by the south end of Mills Lake
Hal along the Mills Lake Trail near the north end of Mills Lake.	Glacier Falls on the Mills Lake Trail.	Pauline and Cliff riding the Bear Lake Bus.	Elk near the Bear Lake Park and Ride.
Oct. 4 pancake breakfast. Cliff cooking, Pauline watching, John trying to catch Cliff flipping a pancake.	Bear Lake at start of hike to Lake Helene.	Cliff and Pauline at lunch near Lake Helene looking down on Odessa Lake.	Odessa Lake with Litte Matterhorn (I think) to the left.
Lake Helene	A fox ran along the trail in front of us for a while.	Two young mule deer in the campground.	Mama deer in the campground.
Hal, Pauline, and Cliff on the final morning at Moraine Park Campground.	Longs Peak from the Trail Ridge Road as I headed home.	View from high on Trail Ridge Road.	Fall colors somewhere near Granby in Northern Colorado. This may be the Colorado River.
More colors about 45 minutes farther along on the drive home from the above photo.	From the same place as the above.	The Sangre de Cristo had a frosting of snow when I went by.