East Inlet Trail

Sunday, June 21

The early season warm-up hikes are behind us and yesterday, we went on a much longer and more difficult hike -- 14 miles round trip up the mountains to Lone Pine Lake and Lake Verna. Last year, Joe and Dave did this hike and we were anxious to get back. With an elevation gain of about 2000 feet,this hike takes us to 10,200 at Lake Verna. For those following Kathy and Dave's blog, that's nearly twice the height of Glacier National Park.

The hike begins at a trail head right outside Grand Lake village. About 5 minutes from the trail head, you reach Adams Falls, a spectacular waterfall on the East Inlet stream. Legend has it that Walt Disney conceived his world famous log flume ride after seeing these falls. (I made that up, but you never know...) There's an outlook with elaborate stonework for viewing the falls. With its convenient location close to town, and only five minutes from the trail head, it's one of the most popular spots on this side of RMNP.

The hike then meanders , following the East Inlet as it cascades down to the falls, and quietly winds through dense pine forest, opening onto meadows and quiet water. We are headed straight for those snow covered mountains in the background of this picture. (Incidentally, this stream will eventually feed into Grand Lake itself.)

This hike is all about water, as every quarter mile or so, you come upon magnificent waterfalls and raging streams.

The snow melt is still fresh, and parts of the trail were literally under water. Waterproof hiking boots are in order. The trail itself is a marvel of engineering, and the trail crews that built this trail in the 1930s did an amazing job of carving out passages and steps on the sheer sides of the mountain.

We climb and climb, and eventually get to Lone Pine Lake, a tranquil and beautiful lake at about 9,750 feet.

We continue on, still climbing, and find even larger waterfalls, as there is still snow at this elevation. At last we come to Lake Verna.

At this time of year, every 200 feet or so of altitude gain presents new wildflowers, some having only a day or two life span. Just as we were approaching Lake Verna, we came upon the avalanche or glacier lily, a wildflower that pops out shortly after the snow melt. This was our first encounter with this beautiful flower.