Rocky Mountain High

Today, I took a few hours to enjoy both of my favorite sports – running and fishing – at the same time. There are a few trails in the  Glacier Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park that are some of my favorites, and the area just so happens to have a few great high mountain trout lakes. So, I thought I’d take the afternoon to enjoy the colors of the changing aspens and a few greenback cutthroats. Today’s destination: The Loch and Icy Brook.

It was an amazing day. The breeze was just strong enough to keep the mosquitoes away, but the lake’s bays were smooth as glass. There was not a cloud in the sky and the strong overhead light made spotting the fish pretty easy.

Oh, and it was a great run too. It’s about 6 miles total round-trip and maybe 800ft elevation gain (I’m not sure because I forgot to bring the Garmin along for the run). It’s runnable throughout the whole course. You can run another 2 miles to Sky Pond, but I didn’t get that far today.

If you got a hankering, get up into the high country before the snow starts flying. You will not be disappointed.