Odessa Loop

July 30th, 2006

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Today we were all looking for something that was a moderate workout we could handle, while avoiding a long afternoon in the sun. We decided on the Odessa Loop starting from the Fern Lake TH, and ending at Bear Lake. With an early start on this route, you can avoid the sun until reaching Lake Helene. Then you can take a break at the lake in the midmorning sun, and enjoy the views. From there, the descent to Bear Lake is an easy grade with frequent shade.

We parked at the end of the shuttle route, and walked to the Fern Lake TH. We left the TH at 5:30am. After passing The Pool, the trail gets a little steep, and remains so for the first 2/3 of the way to Fern Lake. Fern Falls is about the halfway point through the steep section. This early in the morning, the cool air flowing down off the mountain keeps you refreshed as you climb. By choosing a good pace, you can get great energizing workout on your ascent to Lake Helene. We'll have this cool air, and the shade of Joe Mills Mountain, all the way to Lake Helene.

We reached Fern Lake about 7:15am, and took a nice break to enjoy the views and have a snack. The trail skirts the northeast shore of the lake, and offers great views of Notchtop Mountain, Knobtop Mountain, the Little Matterhorn, and Gabletop Mountain. As the trail swings around the east tip of the lake, a foot bridge crosses Fern Lake outlet. This can be a nice spot for reflection pictures. From there, the trail swings around to the southern side of the lake, and begins a climb that won't end until reaching Lake Helene. Looking back across the lake on the way up, we had a good view of Sprague Mountain and Stones Peak.

The grade is steady, but modest, on the climb from Fern to Helene. Odessa Lake is at the midway point, and is another great spot for a rest and photos. The spur trail out to Odessa is short and level. There are views across the lake of the Little Matterhorn, and Notchtop and the north face of Flattop Mountain.

After leaving Odessa, the trail continues its steady climb. After a while, it exits the woods and crosses a large talus field. Fortunately, the trail has been built into the talus so you don't have to be too concerned about unstable rock. As you get closer to high point, near Lake Helene, the west face of Joe Mills becomes steeper. Early in the season, this part can be tricky if snow fields haven't melted. It also means the trail remains shaded later into the morning there keeping you cool until you start the down hill leg to Bear Lake.

At the end of the long ramp up from Fern, the trail turns sharply to the left as you leave the shadow of Joe Mills Mountain. Near this point there is a cairn marking a good spot to leave the trail to visit Lake Helene. Before heading out to the lake, we noticed some climbers on the glaciers below Flattop and Ptarmigan Point. Binoculars can come in handy on almost any hike. It's a short easy walk to the lake which sits at the base of the rugged north face of Flattop Mountain.

While the others continued on the trail after visiting Lake Helene, Sandy and I followed a fading trail towards Two Rivers Lake, just to the east of Lake Helene. We reached the lake fairly quickly, but we wanted to see the view from the east end. So we made our way through some difficult terrain, large rocks, fallen timber, and krummholz, for a look back to Notchtop Mountain and Ptarmigan Pass.

The main trail parallels the lake, so we turned north to make our way back on to the trail. It turned out we were quite close to the trail. It's probably faster, and definitely easier, to view the lake from the west end, then return to the trail, and finally leave the trail again to visit the east end of the lake. The terrain along the north shore of the lake is very rugged. On the descent to Bear Lake, there are views of the eastern slopes of Flattop, Longs Peak, and Glacier Gorge.

We caught up to the others at Bear Lake around 11:00am, shuttled back down to the Fern bus stop, and made it back to the cabin before noon.

We always like to hike this one from Fern Lake TH to Bear Lake TH the opposite of most folks. The high elevation point is the pass between Flattop and Joe Mills Mountains near Lake Helene. That point is closer to Bear Lake, and since there's less elevation gain from Bear to Helene, most people choose to start from Bear. However, we prefer up hill to down hill climbing; it's easier on the knees. You don't have to hike at too fast a pace to make it all the way to the high point in the shade. And if you get warm from the workout, the cool air falling off Joe Mills will cool you when ever you stop to rest.

Hike Stats:

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