Trip Report - Gabletop to Flattop Mountain Hike - 5/6/2017
My friend Zach and I hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, repeating a route I had done already once late last fall. I was hoping to show Zach the alpine of RMNP in early season, something he had never been up into before. I was also motivated to repeat the hike hoping that the scree slope to the summit of Gabletop Mountain would be filled in with snow. The ascent for Gabletop can be found in Lisa Foster's hiking guide to RMNP. We started from the Bear Lake Trailhead around 7am, and headed up the Fern Lake Trail. I like this route since it makes a loop hike, instead of having to shuttle from the Fern Lake Trailhead down in Moraine Park. Hiking up to Lake Helene, then down to Odessa Lake is where we left the trail (or whatever snowshoe trail we were following). I've also read a trip report of this same route, but hiked in the opposite direction. I prefer summiting Gabletop first, so you can go up the scree slopes, not down them. The Fern Lake Trail, looking at Notchtop. Abo...