Pfiffner Traverse Day 3: North Inlet, East Inlet, Isolation Peak Pass, Paradise Park (RMNP, Colorado)

Trip dates: August 14-20, 2018
This day: August 16, 2018

Looking west towards Andrews Peak (left)

This day was 100% off-trail and featured the toughest bushwhack of the whole trip.  This was also my favorite day.  

Why does this happen everyday?

I wandered through areas like this the night before to find a nice spot to camp with soft ground. These little side adventures are some of my favorite.

Looking north from the high bench above north inlet. (Andrews Peak on the left...I THINK)

Looking back towards Lake Nanita and Ptarmigan Towers

Crossing a mini-pass in North Inlet

Looking west towards Andrews Peak (left). You can see the mini-pass from previous picture on the right.

Crossing over the next mini-pass to East Inlet. Looking north, perpendicular to travel direction (pass on far left).

The bushwhack down to East Inlet had lots of blowdown and I got "cliffed out" a coupled times.  I actually got a concerned message from my dad on my InReach because I was moving so slow.

The bushwhack down towards Upper North Inlet was probably the toughest of the whole trip. Lots of blowdown but still very fun.

I then moved up towards Isolation Peak Pass.

Looking back at Fifth Lake

My first Bighorn sheep.

Turns out they feel even more at home in this terrain than I do.

They were on both sides of me--it reminded me of movies where someone invades and encounters scouts who are laying a trap.

The Wild Basin area on RMNP is on the other side of this wall. The area around Isolation Peak Pass was some of the most gorgeous scenery of the whole trip.

Another view looking back at Fifth Lake.

You can see Andrews Peak in the background on the left.

I couldn't help myself. One more picture before heading over Isolation Peak Pass and crossing into Paradise Park

This spring I ran into Andrew Skurka who was also attending Paul Magnanti's talk in Boulder about his walk across southern Utah.  We spoke for a few minutes about the Pfiffner Traverse.  I didn't have the map memorized yet and asked something like "isn't there a part where you can stay on the divide near Wild Basin?".  I was thinking of an alternate route he'd mentioned in a "pre-edition" of his guide.  At this point I'm thinking that the best high-route is one that spends absolutely as much time as possible at high elevations above treeline.  

"Yeah you can do that but you miss Paradise Park!" Andrew said.  

I'm glad I decided to see what this area has to offer.  Highly recommend.  

Crossing over into Paradise Park. Without question one of the highlights of the whole trip. Elk Prints and game trails galore--and no evidence of people whatsoever in this area.

More blowdown but nothing too bad. I surprised 3 different groups of bull elk in this section.

I wish this one had turned out better. In hindsight I should have waited a while longer till sunset.

Elk were really abundant in Paradise Park.

"Best day so far!"

I'd been so immersed in the experience I'd forgotten to check-in with friends/family using my satellite messenger.  Just before leaving RMNP I noticed a bunch of unread messages and replied "Doing good! Best day so far!".  I can't believe I get to live 24 miles away from places like this (of course, the drive is longer).

Final climb in RMNP--Paradise Pass. This might have been the steepest climb of the whole trip. Straightforward but waaay tougher than it looked from this vantage point.

Leaving RMNP. Looking north from Paradise Pass

Entering Indian Peaks. Looking into Hell Canyon from Paradise Park. There's a Milton joke here.