Tonahutu/North Inlet

Hike Name: Tonahutu/North Inlet Location: central CO Length: 24 Submitted by: Ryan Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more Colorado trail reviews Colorado national parks Colorado state parks
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Description
Rocky Mountain National Park-Late August/Early September
2003

Before starting my first quarter in college I went backpacking with my uncle Paul. The trail head is in Grand Lake, an hour and a half to two hours from my uncles house in Denver. We stopped at a nearby ranger station before reaching Grand Lake and confirmed our campsite reservation, picked up our permit, and recieved weather information. We had a large breakfast at a quaint restaurant in Grand Lake then proceeded to the trail head no more than 2 miles outside town. The trail was a smooth up hill, steep at some points, with sweeping views to our right of a large meadow. Two hours into our hike we stopped off for some fishing in the Tonahutu Creek that ran through the meadow. It was typical meandering stream, splashing over rocks with brook trout only a few inches long that gave up quite a fight. Afterwards we continued hiking another three hours before reaching our campsite. It was off the main trail about a hundred feet with plenty of flat ground for tents, we set up two with plenty of rooom to spare. There only water source was the Tonahutu Creek which was about three hundred feet from our site. There was a bear box between our site and another site within seeing distance and no form of toilets. When we reached our campsite we set up our tents and took a nap, only to be awoken by the rumble of distant thunder. We quickly made a gourmet dinner of Ramen noodles and beef jerky and ate in our tents as the rain had begun to fall at a steady pace. By the time we finished and cleaned up the rain had picked up and was really coming down. So we settled in our tents as the rain came down in buckets and lightening flashed nearby and thunder boomed right over our heads. It rained through much of the night I think, I eventually fell asleep. The following mourning was cool with puddles of water scattered about. We had covered our packs with trash bags but some water still got through, just enough to get them a little wet. Water had seeped through the bottom of our tents and gotten our sleeping bags wet but then again I was glad we were not washed down the mountain side. Because of all the rain, dark clouds in the distance and probably snow at higher elevations we decided to turn back. It rained most of our hike out. Before hiking out we did go about a mile ahead where Granite Falls was located. It was short water fall and was almost defening as thousands of gallons of water splashed on and over large granite boulders. Despite the noise it was an incredible sight. Hiking out we did manage to spot a few deer that were munching on an afternoon meal. On the drive out our choice had proved a good one as we got a good view of the clouds that moved over the area and they were nasty looking. We later learned it snowed at higher elevations, our route would been on the continental divide for a few miles which is as high as the trail got along with about six inches of snow. I was a little disappionted turning back because were going to do a loop of 24 miles and fish a lake Nanita but it was a good hike anyway, filled with beautiful views of mountain tops and meadows with tall grass. On the trail we only encountered a few people but then again this was during the week, I was told can be busy during the weekend. The 24 mile loop is not one specific trail. We started off at the Tonahutu/North Inlet. We took the Tonahutu trail which went North West for a short distance the turned and went north, the Tonahutu Creek was never far off too our right(east). The trail would later become the Tonahutu Creek Trail, following along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Then the trail becomes the North Inlet Trail and before you know it your back at the parking lot.

Directions to Hike
The trail head is just outside Grand Lake and is called the Tonahutu/North Inlet Trailheads.

Contact Information
Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park, Co 80517-8397
Phone: 970-586-1206
web site: www.nps.gov

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