“You can talk to [g]od and listen to the casual reply” – John Denver
There can’t be any better place in the world than on top of an alpine mountain. Somehow it took until day 41 for me to get there this year, but the wait was worth it. For several years I’ve been wanting to hike Mt. Ida. The hike to Ida follows the continental divide providing views over most of the northern portion of Rocky Mountain National Park. Two years ago our hike was rained out and last year snowed out so I had my fingers triple crossed that the weather would cooperate today.
I woke up a few minutes before our five o’clock alarm and waited until 4:59 before rousing Molly. For the first time ever Molly and I were tent buddies last night, meaning the girls got their first chance to share a tent as well. I think all would agree the experience was “fine”. We all got to work tearing down camp as quickly and quietly as possible. Somehow, despite everyone’s cooperation and best effort it still managed to take us an hour. I guess that’s just what we need.
Our main motivation for camping last night was to be as close to the trailhead as possible this morning. We pulled into the Milner Pass parking area with plenty of open spots to pick from and were on the trail by 6:30.
One of the coolest things about alpine mountains as opposed to the ones we did further south is that the first part of the hike is generally through thick pine or aspen forests. Today’s hike started with a steep section of lodgepole pine. Although they don’t have the scent or color of Ponderosa pine they still did a nice job setting the backdrop. After just a mile or so we emerged above treeline and caught our first glimpse of Ida. The really amazing views, though, were South over Jackstraw Mountain and back to the West to the Neversummer Range. We also spotted the first of many, many marmots that we would see today. Molly posted a video of the couple that we caught “dancing” on a beautiful sunny morning. Picas were also abundant. Each one that we spotted had a mouthful of greens that it had gathered for breakfast.
The last section of the hike was a very light scramble through the scree field. There was also just a touch of routefinding needed here, which added a bit of interest to the hike. We finally emerged at the top around 9:45 and found just 2 other small groups there. We spent quite a while enjoying the views south to Grand Lake, north to the Gorge Lakes and Mummy Range, east all the way to Long’s Peak, and west to the Neversummers. These views were why I’d been wanting to make this hike for so long. As I mentioned above Ida is positioned perfectly to have views of the entire Northern half of RMNP (and beyond!).
We also took some time to have a snack and take a bunch of pictures before deciding it was time to head back down. Leaving a summit is a hard thing for me to do. The ranger who took us on the tour of Square Tower House at Mesa Verde said that he also takes a moment to appreciate it before leaving because there’s no way of knowing when or even if he’ll ever be back. I feel the same way about the summits I’ve climbed. Each one is unique, presents it’s own challenges and opportunities and of course, there is no way of knowing when or if I’ll be able to return again.
