LoJ: #540 (G & M: #538) / 13,138' Ogalalla Peak
N 40° 10' 12.69", W 105° 40' 01.90"
(Not Field Checked)
Copeland Mountain
Isolation Peak
Peak Summary
Ogalalla Peak North Ridge Route
-
-
Wild Basin - Bluebird Lake RMNP Trailhead
For Front Range residents, there are several ways the Wild Basin TH can be accessed. Perhaps the most direct and easiest is from Longmont to Lyons on US 36. At Lyons, take CO7 to Allenspark. The Wild Basin turnoff is about 2.4 miles north on CO7 from Allenspark. Watch for signs for the turn to the west off the highway. There are turn lanes at this intersection. You will then be on CR84 West. Follow the paved road to a right hand turn onto the road leading to Wild Basin. The road becomes graded gravel and you immediately come to an entrance station and small parking area for the Sandbeach Lake TH. After the entrance station, the road passes by Copeland Lake. It's about 2 more miles to the parking area for the Wild Basin trails. There is a ranger station here, picnic tables and vault toilets. While there are plenty of parking spots, weekends can see this fill up so earlier arrival is advised. Carpooling is advised.
Other ways to access: From Estes Park, drive south on CO 7 to the same turnoff for Wild Basin. From Nederland, drive north on CO 72 past Ward, Peaceful Valley and Raymond to the intersection with CO 7. Go left on there to Allenspark and then north 2.4 miles form Allenspark for the same turnoff.
Camping
There is no campground at the Wild Basin TH area. There are fee-based campgrounds located at "Olive Ridge," between Allenspark and the Wild Basin turnoff and the "Meeker Park Overflow" north of the Wild Basin turnoff by about a mile and a half. There is little if any at-large camping anywhere close because of all the private property.
-
From Wild Basin - Bluebird Lake RMNP TH via Bluebird Lake & Isolation Peak:
-
Isolation Pk South Ridge Class 2 / 2.4 mi / 2,140’ One-Way
Click thumbnail to view full-size photo + caption
Open This Route in a New WindowIf camped at the Bluebird Lake designated site, you'll first need to walk on up to the lake, about a half mile away. The mileage calculation is measured from Bluebird Lake since that is the terminus of the "approach." From the campsite to the lake, there is some steeper trail to navigate. The beautiful lake will greet you with rocky splendor. The backdrop for the lake is Ouzel Peak and a rugged looking valley on the south side of the peak. The east and north slopes by the lake we found abounding in wildflowers.
Cross the lake outlet and hike north and west along the shore before beginning a diagonal ascent on the north slopes toward Lark Pond. From the Lark Pond, we “pondered” (pun intended) over the best route to Isolation Peak. We ended up taking a slanting route up the east flank of the ridge that bounds this upper valley on the west and struggled through some steep and very loose talus as we approached the ridge. We emerged on the ridge perhaps near the 12,400 ft. contour south of the low point saddle below Isolation. This meant we would have to descend some to that saddle and then regain 200 – 300 feet of elevation. Once past the saddle, it was a fairly easy stroll to the summit of Isolation with a mixture of rock and tundra, perhaps more rock than expected from the initial distant views.
Once atop the summit, we could survey the valley below and came to the conclusion that if you want the easiest route up Isolation, you should just stay in the valley hiking up past Pipit Lake, swing north to Isolation Lake and then walk up fairly easy slopes to the west to the summit of Isolation. The stroll up the valley would have been much easier than our route, especially if you stayed on the north side above the lakes. Class wise, we're talking Class 2+ versus Class 2. Neither route has any significant difficulties other than the talus.
-
Click thumbnail to view full-size photo + captionRoute Description
Year Climbed: 2007Ogalalla Peak from Isolation Peak is nearly 3 miles south along the central ridge. Once past the saddle south of the Isolation summit and a more narrow section of the ridge, (Class 2) things open up and the walk across the vast stretch of tundra becomes easier, Class 1 walking. We skirted past the summit of Ouzel Peak, but it's easy enough to include if you want as an unranked 12er.
The stroll up to Ogalalla is easy on mostly tundra and embedded rock. Ogalalla is the southern most 13er of RMNP and actually sets just outside of the park boundary. It took at least an hour and a half to make the long trip between the two summits. The Ogalalla summit is uneventful. The best thing about going there are the additional views. The south flank of Copeland is highly visible as are the two lakes below it. If there's any possibility of going onto climbing 12ers some day, you may want to take a close look at "Elk Tooth" east of Ogalalla and connected by a ridge.
To descend back to Bluebird Lake, head north off Ogalalla and descended to Cony Pass. We had information of a route down through here, but it took us a little time to find it. Two rock cairns indicated two possible approaches through two possible gullies to the north side of the ridge over to Copeland. We chose the eastern most and carefully descended on very steep and loose conditions, loosing at least 200 feet before finding a route that contoured us out of the gully and over to the pass. From here, we descended rapidly on steep talus down to Junco Lake. This was all Class 2+. It should be mentioned that it's possible to continue east from Cony Pass to the summit of Copeland along this fairly long, mile and a half connecting ridge. A climbing friend of ours did it and reported that it was not all that difficult, but the appearance certainly seems to offer some challenges. Unfortunatley, this day we did Isolation to Ogalalla, we were already being rained on during the descent, so it seemed most prudent to save Copeland for another day.
We passed the outlet of Junco Lake and continued hiking east, down the valley, trying to stay on a fairly narrow ridge for a while on the north side of the creek. A descending ramp on the north side of the ridge tempted us down for quite a ways before we were finally forced off it and had to descend on steep tundra and rock benches into the drainage directly west of Bluebird Lake. A difficulty on the south shore of the lake, where cliffs came right to the water line sent us around to the north side. Upon further study, we think it's possible to descend from Junco Lake and stay higher up on that same ridge overlooking the creek for a further distance east and then descend to the Bluebird outlet. This would require a little bit of additional uphill though to stay on the ridge crest. Both possibilities are shown on the CalTopo map. Once at the outlet, hike the last half mile back to the Bluebird campsite if that's where you're staying.
Additional BETA
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful. -
