Ptarmigan-Andrews Loop

September 16, 2023 - at 3:45 a.m. I departed from my home in Estes Park, CO in order to start this journey at a decent hour in Grand Lake, CO. Driving over Trail Ridge Road in the night is a little spooky, but it was worth it for the early start. I arrived at my destination and starting point, The East Inlet Trailhead, at around 5:45 a.m., and officially started at 5:55 a.m.

The plan was to complete several peaks in RMNP that had been eluding me for some time. The main reason for this is the accessibility problems that are inherent to their nature. The plan was to head out on the North Inlet Trail, ascend Ptarmigan Mountain, then Andrews Peak, followed by 'Ptarmigan's Beak' and then descending to Lake Verna, returning to the car parked at the East Inlet Trailhead. It was a big day planned, and I was determined to hit these peaks hard and get them done.

I departed from the East Inlet Trailhead, not on the trail, but on the road, headed towards the trail I wanted to start on, the North Inlet Trail. It's a quick 1.5 mile jaunt on the West Portal Road over to the Tonahutu Trailhead. Just about here is when the daylight started breaking, but I still wouldn't see the sun for several more hours.

North Inlet Trail

It was a beautiful start to the day, with a crisp air and frost on the grass. The North Inlet Trail starts with a wonderful open section of horse trail that snugs up against North Inlet (the river for which it's named).

Burn Scar Apparent

The effects of the 2020 fires in the area are unmistakable and abundant. Although sad to see such devastation and transformation in the area, it was quite encouraging to see a moose couple meandering across the trail!

Moose Sighting

I bumped into a bull and a cow a mile or so into the trail. They seemed indifferent to my presence and went about their business. I took a wide birth around them because she was posted up on the trail and was not budging. seems to me to be an appropriate excuse to go off trail around them. Enjoyed their grazing and presence for a few minutes, and went on my way.

Cascade Falls

About 3.5 miles from the trailhead you find your first checkpoint, Cascade Falls. I have to stipulate here that my route from this point to Ptarmigan Summit was 100% unplanned in terms of the direct route up, I just tried to pick the best route up and started climbing on-site. It's very possible there are other, better routes up to Ptarmigan from this trail.

Once I got to Cascade Falls, I enjoyed the water flow, and found a relatively dry path across a little up from the falls. At this point, its an incredibly steep climb to get up the mountain. When looking at the slopes from Cascade Falls, it looks daunting, and it is. However, it is possible to do this, but it is going to be messy..

Trickle Waterfall

If you stay near the unnamed water source nearby, you will eventually hit this obvious small waterfall. This is a really pleasant and hidden spot with some lush green surrounding it. From this point, there is a decent ramp that goes to the right, and some access points where you can continue up. I found this ramp to be a good alternative to a rock walls that were all over the place.

This was a very demanding climb up that requires some significant bushwhacking immediately after Cascade Falls. However, the worst of the bushwhacking is at the start, and rest assured that the further up you go, the cleaner it gets (although steeper too).

Continuing Up

You can see here, this is probably halfway up the climb looking back down towards the falls, and it is quite steep. Many points I needed to grab hold of rocks and trees in order to haul myself up. This is the messy part, as the trees here are all burned, prepare to have charred burn remnants all over the place!

Into the Alpine

It honestly takes a long time to get out of tree line, and there is certainly no such thing as a straight path up. You just have to gradually keep making your way in the direction of the peak. As you eventually get to 'flatter' terrain, I would recommend actually heading East towards the edge of the mountain shoulder. This edge offers amazing views as you hoof it up to the summit, and I wish I headed that direction sooner!

As you are climbing up from the edge, you can see great views of Pettingell Lake (a lake that few people have the pleasure of viewing due to it's remote nature). And as you continue up towards the summit of the first peak, you're rewarded with an astounding view of lake Nokoni (seen below).

Above is the view you get as you're just minutes away from the summit of Ptarmigan Mountain. In the foreground, the pointy mountain just left of center is Hallet, followed to the right by Otis, and then further to the right with Taylor.

Ptarmigan Mountain

Make no mistake, this really is the main event of the day. For those of you who have been hiking in the park for a long time but have yet to explore these peaks, the summit of Ptarmigan Mountain is sure to be one of the best you've ever had (as it was for me). Something about this uncommon perspective of Longs Peak, with Lake Nanita below, flanked by the pillars extending off of the Ptarmigan's shoulder just hits different. This is definitely the place to take a break, have a snack, and enjoy these spectacular views, they really never get old.

Once you've had your fill, the path forward is an obvious journey along the ridge southeast to Andrews Peak, the highpoint of the day.

Andrews Peak

Andrews peak is very similar to Ptarmigan, both in their stature and their position. However, the orientation and perspective of Ptarmigan still tops out over Andrews.

It's a straightforward, non-technical ascent to the summit of Andrews. Once you get to the top, you can really start to look around at what kind of descent route you might be aiming for. I've only done this loop once, so I firmly believe there are other (and possibly better) descent routes to the East Inlet Trail. All that said, while I was way out here, I wanted to bag the smaller peak to the south, 'Ptarmigan's Beak'.

'Ptarmigan's Beak'

Not trying to toot my own horn here, but I honestly cannot find any information online at all that relate to this little nub. Pictured to the right is Ptarmigan's Beak taken from the summit of Andrews (Ptarmigan's Beak is pictured left-center with the big shadowy face). Not that it really matters, this is a fairly tame peak and there's nothing really notable about the journey over there or the summit. Just take it easy getting to the saddle between Andrews and the Beak, and the summit is just as straightforward as the other two previous summits. NOW you really have to make a decision on where you're going...

The picture above was taken from the summit of Ptarmigan's Beak, looking southeast. For reference, the pointed peak on the left is 'Tanima' peak, and 'The Cleaver' can also be seen just right of Tanima. Isolation Peak is just out of range to the right.

Descending

I'll be honest in that I was getting slightly stressed because I was playing this descent by ear. I was confident I could get down safely one way or the other, but just didn't want to get cliffed up for the rest of the afternoon. Again, this route worked for me, but there are undoubtedly other options.

If you are standing at the summit of Ptarmigan's Beak and you look south toward your descent path, you can make out an unnamed pool (pictured). I decided to aim for this pool and take it one step at a time after that. Descending to here was relatively straightforward, but a little slow going.

Descending from here to Lake Verna was really just eyeballing the path of least resistance. Once at the pool I hung a left and started descending through the trees. Before I got to the trees there were some rocky cliffs that could easily be avoided with some skirting. The descent through the trees was very steep, slightly less steep than your climb up Ptarmigan's Peak. However, if you take it slow, careful, and hang onto the trees, before you know it, you'll reach the shores of lake Verna (video below - apologies for portrait format).

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The Run 'Home'

From lake Verna (at least where I popped out) to the parked car was ~7 miles. I put the headphones in and jammed out to some old high school music, which was surprisingly motivating. Of course, the return journey from Lake Verna needs no words. Well traveled trail and no chance of getting turned around. Crossing streams, bridges, and in-and-out of the shade was splendid. It was also nice to check out a new lake and all new trails that I had not been on before.

Lone Pine Lake

Shortly after Verna, you'll arrive at this smaller pond.

Final Descent

Grand Lake can be seen in the distance, which is just beyond the trailhead you're aiming for.

Once back at the car I journeyed over to Granby where I got a hotel to rest for the remainder of the day and enjoy some good local pizza. This was the perfect time of year to do this run, cool and frosty in the morning and warm in the afternoon sun. Below you can click on my Strava activity to see my GPS data and more photos. I should note, I admittedly took a wrong turn at the beginning of the run. I took a right on Tonahutu Dr thinking I could cutoff a bit of distance running through the residential roads and hooking up with an unnamed trail to get into the park. If you look on certain maps you will see a trail that connects this road with the North Inlet Trail. Do not go on this trail - as I found out once I got there, it is closed off to the public and there is clear signage not to travel on it. Instead, just go straight to the Tonahutu Trailhead and start there.

All told this was about 6,000 ft. of elevation gain, and would have been closer to 19 miles without my wrong turns. Total elapsed time: 9 hours, 16 minutes.

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