Escaping The Nutshell

You can see the GPS tracks for this hike. The GPS had a hard time tracking in the forest, and only started tracking well once we got to the open ridge on the Bluebird Lake Trail, but then it did track all the way back.

The video shows North St Vrain Creek, Copeland Falls, Bluebird Lake Trail, and Chickadee Pond.

Today we went for a hike with our Dad. At the Wild Basin Entrance Station the ranger asked us where we were planning to go. When Stefan said "Ouzel Lake", the ranger said the Calypso Cascades Bridge is out and we'd need to take the Camper's Trail. This is a 1.3 mile trail with campsites along it, that you'd normally take to get to the Thunder Lake and Lion Lake Trails. This way is actually 0.1 mile shorter than via Calypso Cascades (3.0 miles vs. 3.1 miles). You can look at the map here.

The trail was just a bit wet until we got to the end of the Camper's Trail, but after the bridge over North St Vrain Creek it got seriously snowy. It stayed very snowy all the way to the Ouzel/Bluebird Lake Trail and then some. Once the trail crossed over to the south side of the burnt ridge (from the 1978 fire), the snow went away and it was easier going.

The trail was mostly clear of snow until the turnoff to Ouzel Lake. From there on, it was too snowy to actually see where the trail went. We ended up at Chickadee Pond, where we had lunch. It was getting late so we turned around at this point, and went back the way we came.