The North Inlet and Tonahutu Creek Trails start in almost the same place north of Grand Lake. By different routes they run east and climb to the summit of Flattop Mountain, where they come together and descend to Bear Lake. Most of the length of these trails is described in the Bear Lake Trailhead chapter. Some goals, however, are more appropriately reached from Grand Lake, so they are described here.
To reach the North Inlet Trailhead, drive east for 0.3 mile from US 34 toward Grand Lake on CO 278 (Tunnel Road) to where the road forks. Take the left-hand fork, which bypasses the village of Grand Lake and leads eventually to the West Portal of the Adams Tunnel of the Big Thompson Irrigation Project.
Leave CO 278 at 0.8 mile from the fork, turning left onto a narrow unpaved road. A short distance along the unpaved road there is a parking lot on the left, which is the best place to park for the Tonahutu Creek Trail. Continue past the parking lot, go over a hill, turn right, and cross Tonahutu Creek on a bridge uncomfortably narrow for most cars. There is a parking lot just beyond the bridge.
From the parking lot walk east along a mostly level road with a few minor ups and downs for 1.2 miles to Summerland Park. This road provides access to private land within the national park and is closed to driving by the public. Beyond Summerland
Park the route is an easily walked trail, passing through lodgepole pines for a few miles while running upstream along the North Inlet, the creek that flows into Grand Lake from the northeast.
Below Cascade Falls the trail forks; the two branches come together above the falls. To avoid conflicts with parties on horseback, take the right-hand (lower) fork now and the upper fork on your return. Cascade Falls is located a few yards to the right of the lower fork, 3.5 miles from the trailhead. The best viewpoint for photographers is reached by climbing steeply downstream over boulders. Be careful; some of the rocks are wet and slick. Smashing your camera, not to mention your body, in a fall could cast a pall over your entire hike.
The trail remains mostly easy and well shaded for more than 6.5 miles from the trailhead. Finally a short set of switchbacks marks the beginning of a gradually steepening grade. You reach a junction with the Lake Nanita Trail 7.5 miles from the trailhead. The North Inlet Trail continues on the left-hand fork to Flattop Mountain (see the Bear Lake Trailhead chapter). The right-hand fork climbs at an easy grade for 0.1 mile to a bridge over the small gorge that is the site of North Inlet Falls.
Past the falls the right-hand fork climbs steeply away from North Inlet. Heavy subalpine forest opens at the ends of switchbacks to reveal views of marshes and of Lake Solitude on the North Inlet valley floor. Overhead, Chiefs Head Peak presents an oddly pointed aspect. After four long sets of switchbacks, you climb across bedrock uphill from fine subalpine gardens where the outlet stream of Lake Nokoni flows.
At 9.9 miles from the trailhead you reach Lake Nokoni itself, a classic tarn lying in a basin carved from solid rock by a glacier. Little soil and few trees mask the stone bowl shoreline. On the south the promontories of Ptarmigan Mountain are sheer but rather blocky. A long, broad slope blanketed with loose rock tends to spoil photographic composition. All in all, Nokoni is not as photogenic as might be desired. Or perhaps it suffers by comparison with Lake Nanita, a larger tarn over the ridge.
Lake Nanita is one of the most photogenic lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park. Admittedly, its attractiveness may be enhanced because you must work to get here. Past Lake Nokoni the trail rises steeply before leveling in heavy subalpine forest on the ridgetop. You get a few glimpses of Nanita as you descend to a marshy meadow. The lake is forgotten briefly as incredibly ragged and dramatic spires on the south face of Ptarmigan Mountain saw across the skyline. Then you pass through trees to ledges overlooking Nanita, 11 miles from the trailhead. Andrews Peak rises on the opposite side of the lake; it is every first grader’s impression of exactly what a mountain should look like.
Scrambling down the rocky slope, you may be lucky enough to photograph Andrews reflected in Nanita. Afternoon or evening light is best for this shot. Should you arrive in the morning, Ptarmigan Mountain makes an even more dramatic subject from the other side of the lake.
A third tarn in the heavily glaciated vicinity of Ptarmigan Mountain is Pettingell Lake, a goal served by no official trail 0.75 mile from Lake Nokoni. Walk to the right from the bedrock lip of Nokoni’s basin and climb steeply uphill to a low point on the ridge north of Nokoni. From the ridge drop down a gradually steepening slope to the basin of Pettingell.
If you are in the vicinity of Nokoni and want to climb Ptarmigan Mountain and Andrews Peak, you can start from the ridge separating Nokoni and Pettingell. Follow the ridgeline steeply uphill and climb along the edge of the Nokoni cirque to the summit of Ptarmigan, about 1.5 walking miles from Nokoni. Andrews Peak is 1.5 miles farther across tundra slopes. With unbeatable views of glacial lakes in North and East Inlet valleys and the 13,000-foot peaks to the east, Ptarmigan and Andrews certainly are worth the climb. They are reached more easily, however, from the East Inlet Trail (see page 198) than via the long North Inlet Trail approach to Lake Nokoni.
Ptarmigan Creek flows south down the north wall of North Inlet valley opposite Ptarmigan Mountain. It drains a magnificent basin where there are three named tarns—Bench, Snowdrift, and Ptarmigan Lakes—and many unnamed ones. Ptarmigan Creek crosses the North Inlet Trail at a point 6.7 miles from Grand Lake. From the trail you can follow the stream very steeply uphill through thick subalpine forest to War Dance Falls.
Bench Lake is located in a hanging valley about 0.5 mile and 760 feet above the North Inlet Trail. As is typical for a glaciated landscape, the hanging valley has a broad marshy floor and steep walls. Both are barriers to hikers wishing to explore the large tarns hanging in their cirques more than 1,000 feet above the hanging valley containing Bench Lake and Ptarmigan Creek.