[Day 61] Rocky Bypass

I intended to leave Grand Lake early, but other things were on my mind: breakfast and hiking Rocky Mountain National Park. I slowly packed up my stealth camp on a hill near the North Inlet and Tonahutu Creek Trailheads. In the pitch of dark last night, I scavenged the woods for an hour for a spot that was neither in the national park or on private property. Eventually, I found a flat spot without any neighboring widow makers that straddled the national park and private property borders.

First, I tried to call the information center of RMNP and reached automated voicemail that took me nowhere. I headed to town.

I grabbed a breakfast of country fried steak and a short stack of pancakes at the Sagebrush Grill. It’s been my first good, albeit expensive, American breakfast on trail.

I went to the park, charged devices, and called the Rocky Mountain National Park Information Center again. After 30 minutes waiting in a queue, my call was answered. I was told the trail from Flattop Mountain to Green Mountain Trailhead (about half the CDT through the park) was closed due to damage from a 2020 fire, and I would need to discuss with backcountry office about hiking through that area.

I was forwarded to the backcountry office. In summary, they told me a permit for a campsite was necessary to enter that territory of the park, the trail was closed to “day hiking”, no walk up permits were available currently, and they had no timeline for reopening the trail. I had checked online prior, and none of the campsites along the trail were reservable. Add on to that, I needed to rent a bear can to get through the park, and I’d need to return that bear can. Unfortunately, unlike Lassen National Park on the PCT, I couldn’t hike through Rocky Mountain National Park in a day to evade the need for a bear can or permit. Supposedly, there are serious fines if caught by a ranger, and I’m not looking for a $5,000 bill for illegally hiking public lands. Lastly, the backcountry office said all the campsites were still under snow. Obviously, this wasn’t a dealbreaker for me, but the sum of these items, namely the inability to obtain a permit, burst my bubble of hiking through the park. The logistics of dealing with the red tape of getting a permit, traveling an extra four miles to get my permit, and renting and returning a bear can is excessive for a 26-mile section of a 3,000-mile trail. I don’t understand it — thousands of internal combustion engines drive right through burn areas of the park daily with a 30-second stop at a pay station, but hikers can’t walk through the park without an excessive process of permitting and logistics.

After wasting a couple hours on the whole national park situation, I decided it was time for lunch — an elk burger and chocolate shake.

After lunch, it was time to head out. I started on Tonahutu Creek Trail until I reached trail closure. Then, I cut over to Kawuneeche Visitor Center, briefly stopped to inquire about permits, got nowhere fast, and left to hike Highway 34 through the park to Bowen Gulch, where the CDT quickly exited to USFS land.

Along the way out of the park, I crossed over Colorado River, which has headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park. I climbed to Bowen Pass. This was another PCT-esque climb, a few thousand feet over many miles through thicket of woods with mosquitos.

I hit some snow going over the pass, then wet snow on other side of pass that slowed me into camp. I made late camp around 8:30pm. I expect I’ll be exhausted tomorrow from the ordeal of town.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)