Odessa Loop

August 6th, 2007

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Our hike today was the Odessa Loop, starting from the Fern Lake bus stop a little after 6AM. It took about 10 minutes to walk to the TH along the road. We preferred to not have to make that hike when the shuttle dropped us off later in the afternoon. It was cool and windy, so the climb to Fern Lake was cool. Just like our hike to Thunder Lake 2 days ago, the continental divide summits were all hidden in clouds. At Fern Lake it was fairly calm. The cloudy weather wasn't the worst thing as pictures were OK and they kept the temperature down.

It was very windy at Odessa Lake. And it was a little chilly although it felt good after the workout hiking up from Fern Lake. The water was choppy with whitecaps coming into shore. Little Matterhorn was completely visible below the cloud base, but everything else above it was covered. Sandy and Ali had arrived ahead of me, and they left for the main trail just as got to the lake. I had a quick snack and then took a quick hike around the west side of the lake. I wanted to scout the area for the inlet stream and trail that come from Tourmaline Lake.

The northern spires of Flattop were barely visible through the clouds and fog. Ali and Sandy took a side trip out to Two Rivers Lake so I ended up passing them on the way back. It stayed cloudy all the way back to Bear Lake which was nice because that can be a hot section of trail by mid morning. We finished up a few minutes after 10AM.

Hike Stats:

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