After a quick u-turn, we spotted some more gobblers frolicking on the opposite hillside. They looked ready for a Thankgiving feast! After watching them for a few minutes, we were back on our way to Bear Lake. It's been so warm lately, that Bear Lake (at 9500 feet) is no longer completely frozen. Here's a view of the lake and Hallett Peak from later in the afternoon:
Like last weekend, the trail was so well packed that our snowshoes stayed on our backs the whole way up. We lost the trail near treeline, but after some boulder hopping to avoid postholing, we found the trail again near the Emerald Lake overlook:
In addition to Emerald Lake, we could see Longs Peak and Mills Lake in the distance, plus Thatchtop and the glaciated east ridge of Hallett Peak. While it was an unseasonably warm day, the sun was obscured by clouds, making it feel noticeably colder. A little further up the trail, our secret weapon - aka Juanma, spotted something moving across the tundra. Thinking it was another ptarmigan or pika, we were very surprised to see a weasel!!
After getting out the 300mm beast lens, I moved towards the last spot we had seen him. After scanning about for a few moments, Juanma spotted him again, and I was able to snap a few photos. These photos have been cropped quite a bit, as it's pretty much impossible to sneak up and get close to a weasel.
I was amazed I even had the time to change lenses and follow him, since the only other weasel I've ever seen was gone in a few seconds. We continued up the gentle east slope of Flattop, passing a few pikas and ptarmigans under overcast skies. I didn't even bother photographing them, hoping the light would be better on the way back.
A couple of hundred feet below the summit of Flattop, we got this view of Hallett Peak and Tyndall Glacier:
Laura and Juanma waited while I examined some sheep tracks:
Once on the broad expanses of Flattop, we made good time towards Hallett Peak. The wind was stronger here, but nowhere near as bad as the last time - when we were forced to turn around back in the fall.
After passing the head of Tyndall Glacier, we ascended the final 400 feet to the summit of Hallett Peak. From the summit we had a great view of Tyndall Glacier, Flattop, and the distant Never Summer Range to the north:
After a couple of photos, we bundled up and had some lunch. Juanma had a thermos of tea that was still a bit warm; it was a most appreciated counterpoint to the chilling wind.
After a short break, we got moving again in order to stay warm. My plan to photograph tundra beasts on the way down proved to be poorly conceived, as we didn't see any ptarmigan, nor did we see any pikas close to the trail. Near the spot we had seen the weasel, we finally encountered a pair of ptarmigan:
We've seen so many ptarmigan lately, I may have to change the blog to "Tales of a Ptarmigan Hunter." Well, at least in the winter when the marmots are snoozing.
A little further down the trail, we encountered this pika chillin' on a rock:
Once back in the woods, I decided to take a "shortcut" straight down the mountain - bypassing the many switchbacks we had climbed earlier. Thankfully we had the snowshoes, as we began postholing badly soon after leaving the trail. It was fun to zip down the mountain through the snow, and soon we were back at Bear Lake. Driving back, we were on the lookout for a good elk sighting. There was a distant herd near Beaver Meadows, but the best sighting was at the golf course in town:
We've seen elk on the golf course plenty of times, but never while people are golfing! At one point, an elk on the green just missed being hit by a golf ball!! It landed near his feet and he looked around rather perplexed before moving on. After giving Juanma a true Estes Park elk experience, we headed back to Boulder and a well earned nap.
