We had several options to choose from for our final day in the Rocky Mountain NP area – complicating matters was the timed entry permit requirement. We knew that the Longs Peak trailhead did not have a gatehouse where entry permits would be checked, but we’d also heard that the parking area fills up before dawn, and such an early start – especially since we didn’t expect to scale the peak – was not appealing. Chris suspected that the Wild Basin area to the south of Longs Peak was similarly not access-controlled, so we headed up that way with no specific plan beyond getting to the trailhead. To our surprise, there was indeed a guard station at the valley’s entrance, and the ranger there told us there was no available parking beyond the gate – since we’d arrived at 9:05am, the point was moot in any event because the permit window starts at 9:00am and we had not one. So there. Chris had earlier seen on the map a TH near the community of Allenspark a couple of miles to the south, and it was here to which the ranger helpfully directed us as the best option to still explore Wild Basin – the only issue was that the Allenspark TH and Wild Basin are on opposite sides of an intervening ridge, so we’d have some 750′ to gain going in with an equivalent amount of loss on the other side. As we had little choice, we navigated a few confusing turns in Allenspark and eventually found the trail. Since the trail begins outside the national park, there were no access issues, other than the parking area being blocked by logs and “No Trespassing” signs posted prominently – we parked at the side of the road and found a trailhead marker a few dozen yards up the trail, so who knows what’s up with the signs and logs. We started up a gentle swale through open forest at the east end of the ridge, and the route steepened and the forest cover deepened as we made our way onto the ridge’s north flank. After 1-3/4 miles, our climb topped out and we began our descent into the basin proper, traveling westward down the south wall of the valley. Our initial destination was Calypso Cascades, and it wasn’t until we were nearly there that we saw any other hikers. The falls were as beautiful as the bridges over them were crowded, and we continued westward toward our second objective, Ouzel Falls, some 3/4-mile further and 400′ higher – there were plenty of people on this segment as well. Once at Ouzel Falls, we took a break for a bit and considered what else we could do – we had originally targeted Ouzel Lake had we started down in the valley, but the lake was two more miles away and adding that distance would likely make our round trip from Allenspark about 12 miles. In the end, we decided against Ouzel Lake, neither one of us really happy about that decision, and we retraced our steps back to the truck. The climb back out over the ridge was not as bad as we’d expected, and the high vantage point along the valley wall did reward us with great views to Longs Peak its neighbors as we ascended. In all, we covered the nearly 8 miles in 4-1/2 hours, getting back to the TH at about 2:30pm. We had picked up sandwiches from the St. Vrain Market in Lyons on our way up, and we enjoyed those so much we stopped there again on our way back to Loveland to get some more to eat for dinner. Although we only had a few days to spend in the region, it whetted our appetites for more, and it will be nice to return with both more time and more deliberate plans.