Snowshoeing to Subalpine Lakes: a cautionary tale

story and photos by Marlene Borneman

editor's note:  this story is pulled out in its entirety from the February/March edition of HIKE ROCKY digital magazine.  For more information about the magazine visit this page

Negotiating the snow drifts on the way to Fern Lake.

Finch Lake: 10 miles round trip
Elevation:   9,912 feet
Elevation gain: 1,432 feet
 
Finch and Fern Lakes are destinations I have been to many times in every season. People often ask me if I get tired visiting the same places over and over. The answer is always “no.” For me each outing in Rocky is different. Sometimes I go solo or with a variety friends, different wildlife sightings, weather, terrain, and seasons. The surroundings and circumstances change, making each excursion a unique experience. I've been surprised by fresh avalanche disturbances, high water, bridges out, snowdrifts, downed trees, a new wildflower, and fresh conversations.
 
On January 9th I started with friends to snowshoe to Finch Lake from the Wild Basin trailhead located in the southeast corner of RMNP. Wild Basin is a place very dear to my heart. This section of the park is “wild” and packed with alpine lakes, deep flowing rivers, waterfalls, high majestic mountains, and imposing passes.

Strapping on snowshoes, we started out on a snow- packed trail. Soon, we headed east, contouring the north side of a long moraine. This part of the trail is frequently icy, but that day we found deep fresh snow. As we gained the ridge and then over, we dropped down to a pretty meadow with aspen groves. In summer months, this meadow would be filled with a variety of wildflowers, but that day it was a blanket of snow. Not only did we find substantial snow but what seemed like hundreds of slash piles randomly stacked throughout the meadow. The scene evidenced the hard work of fire management staff in a fuel reduction project. We circled the maze of slash piles with no trace of the trail.
 
It was very disorienting to be among these scattered slash piles. There were snowshoe tracks going in every direction, possibly the fire management crew or perhaps some other disoriented hiker. We were certainly not lost. We knew about where we were on the map but didn't know exactly where the trail was located. It was then I realized how much trees give definition to trails, especially in winter.

​Looking west I kept heading across the meadow and then into heavy forest and whoa - I see the first trail junction signage for the Allenspark area. I knew the trail from here goes steeply up with several switchbacks ​to the next trail junction. It helped that the slash piles stopped at this first junction so that trail became more distinct through the stands of lodgepole pines.
 
After a steep climb through deep snow, we came to the Allenspark Trail/ Finch Lake Trail/Calypso Cascades junction. By now it was noon and time for lunch. We all took pleasure in the stunning view of the south side of Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, Pagoda Mountain, Mount Alice, and Chief's Head. The Finch Lake trail was not broken from this point and we wisely decided to head back retracing our steps. We did not reach Finch Lake, nevertheless a worthwhile day exploring.

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Wandering but not lost on the way to Finch Lake.

Fern Lake: 7.6 miles round trip
Elevation:   9,540 feet
​Elevation gain: 1,390 feet
 
On a chilly January 21st morning my husband and I started out for a snowshoe trip to Fern Lake. The trailhead is tucked in the northwest corner of Moraine Park. In winter, this hike requires an extra .7 mile of hiking on a road to the trailhead.
 
In the 1900s, the Fern Lake Trail Trail was used by lodge owners, hikers, horseback riders, snowshoers, and skiers. Fern Lake Lodge was comprised of a central lodge and several cabins. Weary visitors could buy refreshments and/or spend the night in the comforts of the lodge enjoying stories told by the owners. It was a popular winter destination. However, in the forties and fifties it was open only in the summer months. The lodge experienced several owners and unfortunately many pilfers and vandalism. 

The service road to Fern Lake is closed in the winter, adding another .7 of a mile to the hike.

The lodge was closed by the Park Service in 1952 and then the remaining structure was burned by the Park Service in 1976. The Old Forest Inn was another well-visited lodge located three and half miles from the trailhead above The Pool. This was a smaller lodge with several platform tents scattered to serve visitors. The Old Forest Inn was closed in 1952 and then dismantled in 1959. Now an established campsite on the site bears the name Old Forest Inn. Fern Lake Trail was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 to commemorate the role it played in the Park's tourism industry.

Burn-scarred trees on the way to Fern Lake

​2012 brought a fire to this trail caused by an illegal campfire. The rements are still evident today. In 2013 a major flood along the Front Range also impacted the Fern Lake Trail washing out a section. Then in October 2020 the East Troublesome Fire brought more devastation to the area. The trail was closed for some time as burned down trees covered the trail, unstable standing trees, burned bridges and hot spots remained for a long period. If the Fern Lake Trail could speak, what would it say having witnessed so many early visitors in every season and surviving destruction of fires and floods?
 
We have hiked this trail in summer and winter since the East Troublesome fire finding it very altered and very resilient. What stands out for me, besides the burned forest, is that the Big Thompson river is now very visible ​from the trail whereas before thick foliage hid the view. We found the trail to be easily negotiated with just micro-spikes up to The Pool.

The Pool

​We carried our snowshoes, so we were prepared when we reached deep snow ahead. I had forgotten how stunning the scenery is along the Big Thompson River especially in winter with icy formations in the snow-covered river with fast moving water peeking through.   We first come to Arch Rocks so named for the huge granite boulders sitting upright at angles. As we walked through Arch Rocks we found several piles of elongated rounded ends “milk-dud” shaped scat and a few moose tracks in the icy trail, but no actual moose.

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We worked our way along the river as the trail became steeper. In 1.75 miles we reach a place simply called The Pool. Named for the deep granite bowls holding churning waters at the confluence of Spruce and Fern Creeks with the Big Thompson River. On that day The Pool was stilled by ice and snow. After crossing a sturdy bridge over the Big Thompson River the trail goes up to the right with a sharp switchback. We found the snow had drifted over the trail resulting in a steep slope. We saw others had avoided this crossing and gone straight up to contour over a small rise and back down to the trail. We did the same avoiding the steep snowbank.

We quickly traded our micro-spikes for snowshoes. Little did we know what waited for us further up the trail.

Newly-replaced bridge over Fern Creek; the previous bridge was destroyed in the 2020 East Troublesome Fire.

We crossed a large new bridge spanning Fern Creek. The bridge was recently replaced due to the East Troublesome Fire. We again found ourselves in a midst of charred trees gaining altitude at a steady rate along several switchbacks. Despite the fire scars this area still shows off a true winter wonderland with views up Spruce Creek. The higher we climbed, we encountered more huge snowdrifts across the trail. These snowdrifts made it difficult to stay on the trail. We wandered up and down and around these huge snowdrifts and finally got to a spot we thought was the long switchback to Fern Falls. We snowshoed towards the sound of fast- moving water and then looked down at the river below but no falls. We backed tracked a bit and then climbed back up to what we were sure was the switchback above the falls.

Huge snow drifts on the Fern Lake trail

The terrain became one large steep snowdrift! In each direction no standing trees just open burned forest. Again, a very disorienting situation. We crisscrossed several times to the area around Fern Falls, but no falls. We had not seen anyone all day and then suddenly two men appeared coming toward us. After a greeting they explained they did not find Fern Falls either but had arrived at Fern Lake via GPS. We all commiserated how different the landscape appeared with the huge snowdrifts and burned forest. As the two men headed down, we found a perfect overlook for a well-deserved lunch. It was a humbling spot overlooking Forest Canyon and Tombstone Ridge.

We are kind of feeling discouraged by not reaching Fern Lake or even Fern Falls!

Suddenly, it begun to snow heavily. Laughing out loud feeling a bit silly, yet acutely aware of our charmed day we took our time eating lunch appreciating the location (wherever that was?). “It's not about the destination, it's about the journey.” This familiar quote came to mind after these two recent snowshoe trips. I thought “It's ok not to reach the day's goal.” There is no measurement for experiences, friendships, and good old-fashioned exercise in the great outdoors.

Marlene has been photographing Colorado's wildflowers while on her hiking and climbing adventures since 1979. Marlene has climbed Colorado's 54 14ers and the 126 USGS named peaks in Rocky. She is the author of Rocky Mountain Wildflowers 2nd Ed, The Best Front Range Wildflower Hikes, and Rocky Mountain Alpine Flowers.

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