Andrews Glacier via Flattop Mountain

Two days after doing Skyyyy Pooonnnd Lindsey and Brian ventured back into Estes Park to hike a loop with Steve, Pam, Matt, Mark, and Jenny. The day was began perfectly clear with the bluest of blue skies. We departed the Bear Lake trailhead a little after 8 on our way to Flattop mountain. The hike up was warm intially, then cooler, then cooler. At 12,000 feet it was only 59 degrees, farenheit. There were many groups on the hike, of which made the hike go slower due to yielding and such as well as the elevation gain. Our first picture on the left is at an overlook of Dream Lake which is much too low to be seen, however; it is quite blue as it is remnants of glacial runoff. Up we went finally making it to Flattop Mountain where it was a bit breezy. Our hiking thingy device measured the windspeed at around 30 mph with a few higher gusts. Combined with the cool temperatures everyone was a bit cool.

On the right is Steve peaking on Flattop Mountain.

On the left is Jenny taking a break.

After our 15 minute break enjoying views of Lake Grandby and the Never Summer Mountains to the West and Estes Park/foothills to the east we ventured on. Our route to Andrews Glacier took us around the base of Hallett Peak(See post #2) and Otis Peak. Here the trail wasn't so obvious so we walked in the general direction of where we thought Andrews Glacier was. Lo and behold we picked up the trail again. Here is the group pondering our next directional move...

Needless to say we DID find Andrews Glacier!

Andrews Glacier is about a quarter of a mile long snowfield that people ski/slide or fall down. Now attempted in the correct manner it can be a very invigorating experience. Now we came prepared with garbage bags and windbreaker pants like one used to wear in the sixth grade. We spotted no crevasses in the glacier in which any member of our group could have plummeted to our deaths. We took to the snow on our butts covered by our bags or pants. Initially everyone took it pretty slow, well except for Jenny who was out of control most of the time and almost killed the photographer.

We took turns sliding, foot skiing, and rolling down the glacier in all sorts of positions, some which weren't so pretty. Finally at the bottom looking up we could appreciate the true hugeness of the glacier.

Our group happy to be safely at the bottom...

Looking back up the glacier.... Will post pictures later!

It was a truly beautiful place, especially since we were the only people we saw for about 4 hours. It was like we had the whole place to ourselves. All good things must come to an end for us though. Soaking wet and smiles crossing everyones' faces we hiked down.

Now the hike down wasn't the easy part this time either. We hiked the first 1/2 mile down a steep pitch stepping from boulder to boulder. Some boulders were steady, others not so steady so it was slow going. However we did manage to make it all the way to the level with out any significant issues.

All in all probably one of the better hikes we've done so far, mostly because you don't get to slide down on snow that often in August.

Trip totals. 13 miles, 2800 ft elevation, 8 hours(ish). Trail is fairly/medium aggressive. 8.4/10