story, photos and video by Murray Selleck, HIKE ROCKY magazine's gear reviewer Editor’s note: HIKE ROCKY magazine receives no compensation for brands reviewed by Murray Hiking while it’s raining is wonderful. The sound of raindrops hitting the forest floor with soft “tap tap taps” is delightful. The intimacy of nearby birds chirping and singing will have you walking slower while you endeavor to make no sound yourself. Thunder rolls down from the clouds, fills the valleys and echos off the steep rock faces. Aspen leaves quake in the wet breeze letting loose their own shower of raindrops. New spring green becomes even more vibrant, washed clean with the rain. Those who are out hiking in the rain count themselves lucky to experience it. Quiet footsteps on rain-softened trails is such an incredible contrast compared to what most of us have been used to: dusty trails packed hard as stone, every step joint-jarring. Low, heavy clouds flatten ridge tops and drape the forest in a gossamer web of drifting humidity. The terrain appears practically unrecognizable to hikers hungover from decades of drought. Despite some trails becoming slick, despite grand vistas lost in the low hanging vapor, despite the goose-bump-generating temperatures and despite ourselves – a hike in the rain should not be passed up. It should only be seen as an opportunity! This spring my go-to piece of rain gear to get me out no matter what the day brings is the Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Rain Jacket. When you are dry and comfortable any wet weather you encounter is manageable. The alternative to dry and comfortable is wet and miserable and getting caught out unprepared in a rain storm leaves little doubt as to why hiking in the rain gets such a bad rap. Gear up with the Patagonia Torrentshell and embrace a rainy day! Patagonia Torrentshell Features: The Hood Starting at the top, there are two ways to adjust this hood to suit your face and preferences. The very top cord on the back of the hood will pull the sides of the hood back to increase your peripheral vision. There are worse things, but it is aggravating to turn your head to the side only to see the inside of your hood! With this side adjustment you eliminate this possibility and replace it with being able to see everything you’re looking for. The second hood adjustment are two pull cords at the top of either side of the front zipper. These cords will pull the hood down and snug it around your head, ball cap, helmet, or knit hat. These pull cords help you batten down the hatches if your hike turns into a torrent! The visor of the hood is laminated so it won’t flop down over your eyes. And the last feature is that the hood can roll up securely out of the way if no hood is needed at all. The top adjustment cord on the hood has a tiny hook that after you roll the hood up will attach to the loop just inside at the top of the jacket. This keeps the hood rolled up and out of the way. If you have read any of my previous articles or watched some of my video contributions to HIKE ROCKY magazine, you know that I am not a huge fan of hoods. With Patagonia’s Torrentshell, I make an exception! However, hoods do reduce hearing. That fact remains my biggest complaint with hoods. I need to hear all there is to hear – especially when I’m out hiking. I do concede that when Mother Nature has opened up every faucet in the heavens, a hood is a good thing. If a hood keeps one single raindrop from sneaking all the way down my spine, then in this case, I thank Patagonia for the Torrentshell hood! ![]() Waterproof/Breathable The Torrentshell is designed and manufactured with 100% recycled waterproof/breathable face fabric. It achieves Patagonia’s H2No® Performance Standard for a three-layer shell with a PFC-free DWR finish (durable water repellent coating that does not contain perfluorinated chemicals). The three layers are the recycled nylon ripstop face, a polycarbonate PU membrane with 13% biobased content, and a tricot backer and a PFC-free DWR finish. All this tech is to say the Torrentshell will keep you dry with best environmental manufacturing practices in mind. One of the main things I like about the Torrentshell and the reason I purchased one is how light and packable it is. With many more expensive laminated waterproof jackets you get a stiff crunchy feel which can be fine for a winter jacket but if you are looking for a lightweight, easy-to-pack rain jacket, then consider the Torrentshell. Two Pit Zips Pit zips are a mechanical way of opening up the jacket to allow more body generated heat to escape from underneath the jacket. The Torrentshell is waterproof and breathable. There are tons of waterproof/breathable jackets on the market and with no exception you must consider “breathable” with realistic expectations. The Torrentshell is no exception and that is why most manufacturers, including Patagonia, offer pit zips on their rain jackets. Hiking up a steep trail, hiking fast, or even trail running in the rain will generate more body heat than what the jacket can breathe or expel on its own to keep you from over heating. So how do you cope? You open up the pit zips and even zip down the front zipper to release more heat to regulate the microclimate you create under the jacket. The cautionary note with pit zips or unzipping the front collar to vent is the risk of allowing rain, grapple, hail, sleet, or even snow an easy way in. Just be weather and vent savvy. Main Zipper Line I love the fact that Patagonia does not use any velcro to protect the front zipper. Velcro on a zipper line just inhibits the zipper slider from working. Patagonia’s front zipper is touted as snag free and that is pretty much true. The slider may encounter a hiccup or two as you’re using it but that is nothing compared to trying to un-velcro velcro and work the slider up or down as the velcro reattaches itself. A no-velcro, no-snag zipper is a wonderful thing. This front zipper is rain protected by essentially three storm flaps. The main storm flap is on the outside and covers the zipper nicely. The two remaining flaps cover the other side of the zipper line and seal out any wind- driven rain. Nice. Two Pockets The Torrentshell has two very good sized hand pockets with zipper closures. Pockets are not only good for keeping items handy, they can also offer some warmth if you’re not wearing gloves. (I do own a wind shell that has no pockets and there are times I sorely wish it did). You can stuff the entire rain jacket into the left pocket for a handy way to store the jacket when you’re not wearing it. The pocket itself acts as the stuff sack. This pocket has a small loop inside it so you can carabiner the stuffed jacket to your pant loop or daisy chain on your pack. Tip: When you stuff the jacket into the pocket turn the pocket inside out as you stuff the jacket. Cuff and Waist Adjustments Both sleeves have the common velcro closures to help you adjust the length of the sleeve and loosen or tighten the cuff around your wrist. I do have long arms and I like being able to snug the velcro around my wrist to create the correct length of sleeve. I also like the fact that Patagonia has not cut the sleeves too short which is a typical problem for tall and lean hikers. Sleeves that actually run the full length of my arms practically make me giddy! Another common feature is a cord to snug the hem of the jacket around your waist. When the rain and temperatures drop at the same time it is nice to be able to snug the jacket around your waist to keep the body generated heat in the jacket to maintain warmth. The Fit and Year-Round Versatility I am about six feet tall with long legs and arms. Lean and 160 pounds. I wear a size medium in the Torrentshell and it fits perfect. Sleeves that reach a touch beyond my wrists are wonderful. The length of the jacket is not too long which I also like. There is room for additional layers underneath the jacket if I need them. There is no reason why I can’t wear this as a winter shell when the conditions warrant adding even more year-round value to this jacket. Recycled Fabric The Torrentshell is made with recycled nylon. Creating fabric from recycled material may not be newsworthy but in this case it is. Patagonia produced its spring 2023 product line with 89% recycled nylon. Part of their recycled nylon comes from old carpet and old fishing nets. We all need to think more carefully not only about what we buy, but from whom we buy it. Too many “me too” companies out there only pay lip service to our climate crisis and often exaggerate their environmental record. I believe my dollars are well spent when I support Patagonia. Their products are sound and so is their business ethic. Conclusion I like it and recommend it. Now let’s get out and hike… no matter what the day’s weather may bring! ![]() Murray Selleck moved to Colorado in 1978. In the early 80s he split his time working winters in a ski shop in Steamboat Springs and his summers guiding on the Arkansas River. His career in the specialty outdoor industry has continued for over 30 years. Needless to say, he has witnessed decades of change in outdoor equipment and clothing. Steamboat Springs continues to be his home. This piece of original content was made possible by Heidi RIedesel, Realtor; Estes Park Health; and, Snowy Peaks Winery.
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story, photos and video by Lincoln Chapman Timber Lake Trail Type: Longer Hike Trailhead: Timber Lake (west side of Rocky) Trailhead Elevation: 9,054' Destination Elevation: 11,088' Total Elevation Gain: 2,060' Total Roundtrip Miles: 10 I'm not sure I've ever hiked a more adequately named trail in recent memory. I'm also fairly certain that I hadn't hiked this unprepared in several years. I hope to do the journey that was Timber Lake Trail justice with this piece. My hope is to explain the dangers, lessons and pitfalls my friend and I found along the path. I really hope this because I wouldn't want anyone else to have to find them for themselves. It was one of those adventures that's only really fun when you live to tell about it. Somebody yell “Timber!” (and mud, and snow, and scat and stones) Timber Lake Trailhead is located on the west side of the Park, closer to Grand Lake than Estes park. The majority of guests enter RMNP through one of the east entrances, meaning they would get the pleasure – and some would say honor – of driving the majority of Trail Ridge Road to get to this trailhead. It's one of the most beautiful drives in thecountry and is built along much of the original Ute trail. It's an amazing drive and a great time sip coffee, hydrate, and eat to fill up before the hike. If you are entering from the Grand lake entrance you will experience less of the views provided by elevation elevation gain. No worries, though – my buddy and I passed at least a dozen buck elk with velvet antlers and two moose on our drive beyond the trailhead toward Grand Lake. The tunes were so good when we first pulled up to the trailhead parking lot, so we drove a bit further and looped around to hear a couple more songs. That action alone admittedly sets the stage for two twenty-somethings vibing too hard and planning too little. We were bangin' our heads out of the window to the Kingston Trio, creating a new boost of false confidence with every song. The first sign we saw at the trailhead indicating how difficult it might be (and the first sign we ignored) read “Active Landslide Area.” I’d heard of some flooding from the Colorado River on trails nearby, so I had a little bit of cautious restraint in the back of my head. However, we should have taken the time to drive to the visitor’s center nearby, to gather any information on the current status of the Timber Lake Trail. This was costly ignorance on my part; but we felt on top of the world coming down from Trail Ridge's apex. We didn't do much other than giggle at the warnings of landslides. The trail runs about 5.3 miles to Timber Lake. It wasn't the lake's timber we needed to worry about, though. We reached our first obstacle at mile marker two: the landslide zone. It ran directly across the path, laid out in a pick-up-sticks style display of fallen trees. It was a bit of a maze just to get through and on top of that. It's remarkable how slick a fallen tree trunk can get. The possibility of a new landslide was our first fear but the wreckage of recent ones were what we had to face. One wrong step and it could, “take our love and take it down.” We maneuvered our way through the logs as slow as we could and high-fived on the other side. “Pfft, all downhill (metaphorically) from here” or something along those lines was certainly spoken. Never taunt the mountains with a sentiment of “pfft,” they will be happy to play that game. We made our way through two miles of lodgepole pine and changed the amount of layers we were wearing about five times in that stretch. It was cold, as early summer has been in the Park. Every half-mile would lead us to taking our jackets off and sipping water, but by the time we were ready to trek again we'd be a bit chilly. The high of the day was predicted to be 48 degrees and it was roughly 7a.m. at this point. The forest is dense on this hike. It feels something like what I refer to as the “woods” back in my home state of Tennessee. “Woods'' are hard to come by in much of the east side of the Park. The west side, in particular Timber Lake Trail, is quite different and mysteriously thick. Mysterious in the sense that you really don't have much of a deep look into what lies, breathes or eats beyond the trail itself. Noises seem to circle, bounce and echo. We hiked with bear spray as I would always suggest. It's much better to be prepared. Wow, there was one thing we did prepare. On one of our water breaks, we sat catching our breath when I heard a growl and he heard a snapping branch. It was just one sound – we just interpreted it differently. We jumped up in Shaggy-and-Scooby- spooked fashion. We grabbed the bear spray and continued to move forward, alert. Again! He heard a big snort and I heard a massive flapping of wings. One noise freaked out both of us, letting our minds get the best of us. We passed what appeared to be scat from a big cat just a half mile or so before, so that certainly wasn't helping. Moments later we both turned our heads in sync, noticing motion in the leaves. There it was. A tiny little grouse hopping along and then flying away. His wings made the loudest echoes, snorts and growls ever, ok? The next mile or so was pleasantly uneventful, but it was steep. We had plenty of water which was a great thing because the third quarter of this hike is very taxing. It's the kind of steep that's gradual, seeming to never end. It’s just enough to wear you out, steadily. As we climbed, we became more aware of our breath. Partly due to the upward slope, and partly because our breath was becoming more and more visible as the air got cold. Snow patches started emerging on our left and our right and then little by little in the middle of the trail. We scampered across a couple six foot long snow piles and felt fine about it. We didn't need snowshoes for any of those, just a burst of energy to get across quickly. Nobody wants wet socks four miles into a 10-mile hike. Snowshoes would've come in handy about a third of a mile away from the lake itself. Like, really handy. It's amazing to me that my friend and I trekked through the snow without proper footgear. The spurts of snow turned into deep accumulation covering the entire trail. We wouldn't have been able to stay on course had it not been for the footprints a brave hiker left before us. We kept our gaze forward and upward toward the peaks, under which was Timber Lake. We followed the path of prints and kept moving forward. The inches of snow that we had begun to master didn't stay at that depth for long. No, to be honest, I'm uncertain just how deep the snowpack went. In one heavy step at one point, I fell straight through down to my waist. I'd really like to believe that was the deepest it got. The timber we had contorted through at mile two was now beneath us, covered in extremely sketchy snow. We decided to take a break from the snow and try something easier. Just left of the footprints, we began stepping from stone to stone. These were large boulders laid out in the most random patterns and heights. We carefully hopped from one to the next, trying to avoid the slick ones. We had to climb a few and use all four limbs. We reached a peak among the stones and saw a portion of the end of the trail, somewhere beyond and through the trees. There weren't any more stones, just trees and snow ahead. We hopped back on to the trail (assuming the footsteps were following it) and powered through the snow. We were in shorts and sneakers trudging through the snow up to our knees. We were so close. We powered through the brush and arrived at Timber Lake. We stood, huffing and puffing and taking it in for several minutes before saying anything. Our adrenaline had been pushed to new extremes on the way, and we both knew what the other was thinking. We shared a moment of silence and appreciation. We hydrated and replenished and laughed at our stupidity. It's easy to laugh at your own stupidity on the other side of it. Thank goodness we made it to the other side unscathed. The lake was still frozen for the most part, and there was tons of snow along the mountain bowl that encapsulates it. The light hit the snow so insanely bright up there, we joked about seeing a new shade of white. The elevation made for wild cloud movements. The clouds literally rushed above the lake; stormy but unthreatening. The shadows moved across the snow and the mountain just as fast. It was magnificent. Magnificently chaotic were the clouds and our experiences that day. We enjoyed the lake for a bit and then prepared to head back. We were more motivated than ever to start the hike back with the most difficult portion knocked out first. Our legs were beginning to feel like Jell-O and our patience was starting to wear thin, so we decided the stones weren't in our best interest on this go. We rushed through the snowpack. We found patches that only took our sopping wet feet an inch or so down into the snow and took other steps that shot our legs down to our knees in the cold. We made it through and the began the now-downhill stretch toward the scary noises. We were at the point of our day where the feeling of being “over it” on a hike was welcomed. After pushing through that stage, the feeling of accomplishment set in. We made it back to the first pile of fallen timber and laughed at how easy it felt compared to the rest. The hike came to an end and we wrung out our socks. It was the ultimate feeling of relief. Take it from me: please do your due diligence and research your hikes before you go. Stop by the visitor’s center and hear from a ranger themselves just what to expect. My buddy and I were lucky to have made it through without a twisted ankle at the very least. We laughed about our stupidity the entire drive back to Estes Park. I'm glad to have experienced the hike; I hope it serves a lesson to myself and to anyone reading as well. Timber Lake trail humbled me, I loved it. ![]() Lincoln Chapman grew up in Nashville, TN, and is 26 years old. He idolized football his entire adolescence, which led him to a small university in Texas where he was finally able to scratch that itch at 22. After school, he started traveling, beginning with Los Angeles, where he started commercial acting and modeling. After a handful of stints in Southern California, he began traveling in his van, chasing any gig and any opportunity. He moved to Estes Park in June, 2022 where he serves wine and is pursuing his writing career. Catch him in the corner of a local watering hole jotting or doodling away on paper. The publicaiton of this piece of original content was made possible by: Ram's Horn Village Resort, Tahaara Mountain Lodge and Twin Owls Steakhouse.
story by Chadd Drott, Chadd's Walking With Wildlife The best time to visit Rocky Mountain National Park depends on the purpose of your visit. From backcountry skiing on fresh powder to a beautiful summer day on the summit of Longs Peak, Rocky has something for everyone. However, if you are visiting for the sole purpose of spotting wildlife, there are two times in the year that are best. I recommend coming out during the middle two weeks of September for the fall colors and the peak of the elk rut. However, my recommendation for viewing the most amount of wildlife, and to witness the miracle of life, would be the first two weeks of June. It's baby season in the Park! Visitors may think of calving season as an unlikely time to spot wildlife, assuming that mothers will be hiding their babies in attempt to keep them safe from predators. However, the situation is quite to the contrary. Mothers must come out to eat in order to produce the milk to feed their young and many newborns start following their mothers to feed just a few weeks after being born. This is the best time of year to see many species with their babies. Many animals will have given birth in Rocky in the weeks prior to your visit and others will be calving during your visit. This time of year offers the best time to see many species with their babies when they are the youngest. These are the animals you will most likely see with their young in early summer in the national park. Rocky is best known for Rocky Mountain elk. Elk drop their young starting in late May, continuing through the first half of June. Most young are born in the cover of thick, dark timber outcroppings or on steep hillsides that are close to timberline. Newborns are able to stand up within twenty minutes of being born, and can walk and run within two weeks. Babies lay by themselves in tall grass under the cover of trees. They will lay still on the ground, motionless and with no scent. These two adaptations are their only line of defense from being discovered by a predator. When nursing, the mother will stay a few yards away and the calf will come to her. After nursing, the calf will move off a distance and drop back down. The mother will spend as much time away from her calf as possible the first week to two weeks. Calves are born around 35 pounds and will weigh roughly 63 pounds by the end of the two weeks, at which time the mother brings the calf from the cover of trees and reunites with her herd and their new calves. Elk will spend the next two months nursing their young until they are fully weaned. Even though youngsters will be weaned by month two, they will retain their spots for another four months. Calves will stay with their mothers for the first year and then dissolve into the rest of the herd as the mother moves into the forest to have another round of young. ![]() Similar to elk, Mule deer also have babies in May and June. The fawns are born with spots and are also scentless. They use some of the same tactics as elk do, birthing in dense forests with optimal cover. Because deer fawns are so small, mule deer use another tried and true tactic to help ensure their fawns' survival: they choose extremely steep inclines high up in the dark timber where it is hard to traverse. This helps keep wandering predators away from the fawns and lowers of the chance of them stumbling upon one. Deer fawns and elk calves are born with spotted fur. The spots break up their body's outline while it is lying on the ground. In dense forests, the sun peeks through the branches and dapples the forest ground. As the sun passes across the little one's body, it creates a light image on the fur, giving the illusion of grass dancing in the wind. It's the perfect camouflage from the peering eye of a curious predator. If the predator can't smell it, see it or hear it, then it becomes almost impossible to find. Unlike moose, deer and elk cannot close their nostrils to hold their breath, so hiding in water from predators is not an option. Rocky's Shiras moose could be seen as the sole member to a unique family of semi-aquatic mammals, but actually they are just the largest members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Moose deliver around the same time period as elk, but a little earlier: most of their young are definitely dropped in the month of May. Unlike mule deer fawns and elk calves, baby moose are not born with spots. Instead, newborns have a milk chocolate brown coat and are not born scentless. However, moose calves have their own unique adaptations for survival. Moose are able to stand up and have steady legs within the first couple of hours of birth. And within three days of birth, they become faster than even Usain Bolt (known as the fastest human on earth). That's right, moose calves run faster than humans by day three, topping out at speeds in excess of 30 miles per hour. Their front legs are taller than their back ones, which gives moose calves the torque to accelerate extremely fast. If all else fails, they are able to swim more than 10 miles per hour by day two and will retreat with mom into the water if they are unable to outrun a predator. While sightings of deer, elk and moose offspring are relatively common, count yourself quite lucky if you see any of the following animals with their babies in Rocky Mountain National Park. The measures taken by Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to protect their young from predators are nothing short of harrowing. Although not quite as amazing as the mountain goats' defense tactic of having young on the side of a sheer vertical cliff, bighorn sheep still choose steep and rocky terrain to help guard their young from predators. In fact, although many species would prey upon a baby lamb if given the chance, bighorns in Rocky have narrowed that down to two predators because ewes take their lambs into steep canyons and high up on rocky cliffs near alpine meadows to raise them. The two major predators of bighorn sheep might surprise you. Mountain lions are perfectly adapted to run lambs down over rocky terrain and take full advantage of any of those opportunities during birthing season. The other main predator of lambs is the apex air-superiority predator, the Golden eagle. Lambs are actively hunted by eagles during the first couple weeks of life through their first year. After that, they tend to weigh enough that eagles choose to go after the next year's young. Coyote pups are born after a short, 63-day gestation period, earlier then the deer family’s fawns and calves. Coyotes tend to be born in the beginning of April and start to venture out of the den by the end of May, making early June the perfect time to see puppies outside of a den site. The hardest part about seeing these little ones is that coyotes are very good at keeping their den sites well-hidden from the prying eyes of predators. Some years, coyotes have been seen denning in the middle of one or more of Rocky's large parks. This presents the best opportunity at seeing baby coyotes in Rocky. Unfortunately, life is hard for both predator and prey in the wild, and when a den site is discovered by a number of species the pups may be killed for either food or to eliminate the threat of them growing up and becoming one of the Park's top predators. Bears, foxes, wolverines and eagles will kill pups as a food source. Elk, deer and moose will trample pups to help ensure future generations of their own young will survive. This was unfortunately the case with one famous coyote den last year that was discovered by a few cow elk; eight of the nine pups were killed by trampling and the remaining pup was moved to a new location by the parents. The least likely of our most recognized species in Rocky to be seen with their young is the American black bear. But black bears are not the rarest of large animals in the park to be seen with cubs, that would be the mountain lion. Bear sows unsuspectingly give birth to their young inside of their dens in late January or very early February. It is not until the sow wakes from her torpid sleep in March or April that she discovers her offspring. She will not emerge with her cubs until mid-April. Due to the extremely low population within Park boundaries and the fact sows like to keep their cubs hidden, seeing a bear with cubs in RMNP is a rarity for sure. However, like many things in our beautiful Park, it is never impossible to see them. Look for bears with cubs in lower lying areas around 9000' such as Ponderosa pine forests or large groves of Aspen. These trees give the cubs the best opportunity to climb up if needed when trouble arrives. This elevation also provides the best opportunity for food sources within the park. Both flora and fauna are plentiful in the high montane region. Unlike many other species who have young year after year, black bears are a biannual species. They give birth only once every other year and raise their cubs for almost two years before chasing them off during the cub's second June. Cubs will end up spending seventeen months with their mother, learning everything that they need to for surviving on their own. Mothers chase off their cubs in early spring once the weather is best, to help give the cubs the most time available to figure out life on their own before the harsh winter hits. Although it seems cruel, believe it or not, this is their mother's last loving gift to the cubs. She has waited until the days and nights stay warm and food is plentiful to find and forage upon. Most cubs are experts at survival by this time anyway. As long as they can avoid other larger bears and people, they should do just fine living a bear's life until it is their turn to reproduce, and add to the survival of their species. A few months later the mother will mate again in fall and be ready to start all over again come January! Editor's Note: As a reminder, wild animals with young are extremely dangerous to humans. Rocky Mountain National Park's wildlife viewing guidelines should be adhered to in all situations if possible. VIPs (Volunteers in Parks) often patrol wildlife sightings in the Park to help keep visitors at a safe distance, but ultimately it is your responsibility to know the dangers and mitigate for them. ![]() Chadd is a 6th generation Coloradan and has been studying and working with wildlife for over 25 years. With an expansive knowledge of the natural world around him, Chadd’s expertise has been solicited for wildlife consultations around the nation. Each summer, he runs the premier wildlife tour in RMNP - voted #1 on Trip Advisor. Learn more about his tours at Chaddswww.com This piece of original content, included in the current issue of HIKE ROCKY magazine, was made possible by Longhorn Liquor, Scot's Sporting Goods and Tahosa Coffee House.
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