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The
Loch
Trail
Stats
Distance
- 6.2
Miles
Elevation Gain/Loss
- 1250 ft.
Max Elevation Reached
- 10,255 ft.
Difficulty
Level
- Moderate
Trailhead -
Link
Track
Download Google
Earth KML - Link
Download GPX - Link
Description
The Loch is an intermediate destination on
the trail that starts from Bear Lake trailhead and goes all the way to
the base of Andrew's Glacier. The glacier is visible from the Loch
itself and the trail from the Loch to the base of the glacier is
inaccessible well into the summer because of snow. This page describes
the trail up to the Loch.
The trail starts of at the Bear Lake
trailhead. Follow the
mark and well traversed trail to Alberta Falls, which is the first
point-of-interest on this hike. The falls can be heard much before you
get to it. In early summer, the flow is impressive. A lot of hikers
turn back from the falls.
Continuing on towards the Loch, you gain
some altitude and walk through fairly dense woods that occasionally
open up and offer vistas of distant snow covered peaks. Throughout, the
trail is well maintained requiring little navigation.
The Loch itself is a rather large body of
water. Andrews Glacier can be seen descending on the eastern steep
slopes of the peaks forming the Continental Divide.
Elevation
Profile
Trail Log
July 3rd,
2009
Photos - Link
Notes -
Nandini. N, Sesh. K and I did this hike
during out visit to
RMNP over the 4th of July weekend. Our original plan was to hike up to
Flattop Mountain. But we started a bit too late and the park rangers
advised
us against heading to higher altitudes because of bad weather. We were
glad we heeded their warning. We ultimately ended up hiking most of
this trail in
rain. I did not get as many good pictures as I would have liked.
We did not see much wild life on this trail.
Only squirrels.
The trail wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, probably because
of the rains. We stopped at the falls for an elaborate photo session.
Thereafter we reached the Loch, ate some snacks and rested.
Here
are more photos from this trip.
Here
is another hike I did on this
trip.
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