Chasm Lake

For various reasons, Laurel and I have failed multiple times to hike to Chasm Lake:

• 2/7/2009: late start, bad weather
• 4/10/2010: sketchy snow conditions
• 7/26/2011: slippery trail, no traction, time constraints

She was pretty beat from our Gibraltar Lake mega-hike yesterday, so I went hiking with JJ. We got to the Chasm Lake overlook and stopped for a bite, then continued towards the lake. The trail was in great shape with little to no snow. The last section before the lake had some fun scrambling opportunities. We hung out at the lake for a bit, took some pictures, and retraced our steps. Round trip was 8.5 miles and just over 6 hours.

Chasm Lake

The 2000' face of the Diamond

JJ was pretty excited about seeing snow in September

Clouds rolling in on our descent

St Vrain Run

On Saturday Laurel ran up St. Vrain Mountain.

Colorado Bliss

Chapin, Chiquita, & Ypsilon

On Saturday JJ and I drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove up the Old Fall River Road to the high trailhead of Chapin Pass. We left the car around 7:45 and started hiking the trail towards the mountains. After only a few minutes we saw dozens of elk down in a lower meadow. Then, a park sign that designated the end of the maintained trail. However, the unofficial trail was really quite good.

It was a gorgeous morning and there weren't many other people on the trail. We continued to hike along the trail on the side of Mount Chapin. We decided to leave the trail and go straight up the north slope to the summit. On the way we saw dozens of marmots and pikas. Very cool!

When we summited what we thought was Chapin, we realized it was just a labeled point and not the actual summit. We continued on up and got to the true summit around 9:30. We picked up the trail again and descended to the saddle. Then, it was on to Mount Chiquita. Again, lots of critters and another hiker pointed out some baby ermines. Very cute! We summited this peak around 11:00.

Clouds were starting to form, but it looked like we had enough time to head over to Ypsilon, the third peak along the ridge. This one had a very gradual slope. We got to the top right at noon. There were beautiful mountain lakes below us and we also met some climbers who had come up the class 4 ridge from Lawn Lake. We turned around quickly because the clouds were getting bigger and darker.

We were just 10 minutes from the treeline when it started hailing and then thundering with lightning behind us. The thunder was very loud, but fortunately we made it to the trees with no ill effects. After a few minutes the skies above us cleared and we got back to the car at 2:45. A long, but great day.

Jurassic Park

Tim and I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park today to check out the Jurassic Park climbing area. We got to Lily Lake at 7:00 and by 8:00 we had navigated the climbers' trails to the base of the rocks and were ready to climb.

We started at Lefthand Rock and I led a very easy 5.2 sport route called Byron's Ladder. Though super easy, it was good to get a feel for the granite and general sense of the area. Then we moved slightly right and I led two more bolted climbs---T-Rect (5.7+) and Triceratops (5.8-). As the morning wore on, more and more people showed up. There was a group from Long Island, a camp that was toproping and practicing Tyrolean Traverses, and what looked like a family reunion.

We moved up to Dinosaur's Foot and attempted a 5.8+ lead on one of the "toes." The seventh bolt was definitely the crux, and neither of us could manage the delicate moves need to clip. After practicing some rescue techniques (on the ground) we went up to Estes Park for some yummy lunch. A great day!

Mt. Lady Washington

Today I ran up Mount Lady Washington. I left the Longs Peak Trailhead at 7:00 and headed up the trail. That early it was already overcast and there was a slight chance of thunderstorms. I kept an eye and ear out for thunder, rain, and lightning, but I never saw or heard anything.

I got up to the Chasm Lake overlook (about 3.5 miles in) in just under an hour and a half. There were a couple people on the trail, but not many. I did pass some other trail runners already on their way down. Very cool!

I started to head up towards Granite Pass, as my plan was to run to the Boulderfield and summit Lady from the west slopes. However, due to the iffy weather, I decided the quickest way up would be to hightail it up the northeast slopes rather than running the extra mileage. I got to the summit at 9:15. There was lots of nice scrambling on class 2+ terrain to the top. Again, because of the iffy clouds, I took a couple of quick pictures and then began my descent.

I started going down the west slopes towards the Boulderfield because it was only 500 feet of scrambling as opposed to 1500 on the other side. I figured once I got to the trail I could run pretty fast back to treeline. I descended about 400 feet and then decided to contour along the base of the mountain to hit the trail higher up. After side-hilling for a bit, I scrambled down another 100-200 feet and met the trail right at Granite Pass.

From the pass, I decided not to summit Battle Mountain because the weather was still not clearing. I ran right back down the trail (stopped at the loo at the Chasm Lake Overlook -- what a luxury when spending an entire morning in the mountains!) and got back to the car at 11:00 on the dot. A fabulous day! Overall: 8-11 miles (wish I had the GPS), 3800', 3:56.

Twin Sisters hike/run

We hiked/ran up Twin Sisters on Earth Day. Great views of the Diamond face of Longs Peak.

Twin Sisters and Elk

Saturday morning Ashlee, Adam and I drove up to the Park. Unfortunately, Dan had to stay at home to do homework, so he wasn't able to join us. The hike up to Twin Sisters was beautiful in the snow. It wasn't too cold, especially when we were in the sun.

When we summitted, there was no wind at all. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so we could see mountains for miles around.

When we got down, there was still some daylight left so we went to Moraine Park to see if there were elk. Boy, did we luck out! There were hundreds of elk grazing. It was really cool to watch them all. On our return home we ate elk for dinner, well, I had a bite but everyone else seemed to like it a lot.

Flattop, Hallett, Otis, Taylor

Today we headed back to the mountains, but this time we drove up to RoMo for our long run of the week. Hallett, Otis and Taylor have been on my list for quite a while, so I was hopeful we'd be able to summit all three. We parked at Bear Lake and ran the four miles up Flattop Mountain. Dan flew up to the flat summit in an hour and twenty minutes. I was less than 10 minutes behind.

From there we headed south to our next objective. The final few hundred feet up Hallett were quite steep and rocky, so we hiked the whole way. There were gorgeous views, but we didn't stay long. A man on the top told Dan that it was really cool to hike down the ridge and see the thousand foot cliffs that were often climbed. So, we did just that, and he was right. The sheer faces were stunning, but this jaunt added over an hour to our day.

We headed back up Hallett and skirted the summit while headed further south to Otis Peak. Here we had the tundra to ourselves and we enjoyed route-finding through the talus slopes. As we scoped out our next destination, we noticed there were three lesser summits on the way. Of course, we had to visit all of them as well.

We traversed the ridge and finally got our first view of the Taylor Glacier where a good friend of ours lost his life almost a year ago. It was sad to think of his fatal fall and the danger of our beloved mountains. But, it was also a time to reflect on Jim's positive impact on so many adventuresome hikers and climbers. He is definitely still missed. Needless to say, summiting Taylor Peak was bittersweet, but again it was a glorious day and the views were stunning for miles around.

Use scrollbar to view the entire panorama, or click for larger view

The hike back took us on the Continental Divide Trail and back over to Flattop. Dan was able to run the slightly-angled trail but I was too tired. I hiked quickly behind him. It was nice to finally get back to Flattop and follow the trail downhill to the car. Overall, we ran/hiked 17 miles and gained 6000 feet. It took us 8 hours.

Mummy Backpacking

Well, we tried to have a nice backpacking trip. Our plan was to hike a bunch of peaks in the Mummy Range in Rocky Mountain National Park and spend two nights along the way.

On Sunday, we hiked up the Lawn Lake trail until shortly after a set of switchbacks. From there we headed off trail, ascended rough terrain to a saddle, and picked a route up Bighorn Mountain.

The Diamond face of Long's Peak

Given the name of the mountain we were hoping for sheep. No sheep. It was a nice summit anyway, but we didn't stay long since the clouds were starting to get pretty dark.

Tileston and its "bump" in the midground; Mummy Mountain on the horizon

Back down to the saddle and then up towards Mount Tileston. There was a bump along the way to Tileston so we hit that first. As much as possible we tried to stay in the trees. From the bump summit we had a good look back at Bighorn; from the Tileston summit we could see Potts Puddle and imagine our campsite not too far beyond it.

Bighorn Mountain

Potts Puddle just above Laurel's head

Heading down Tileston we came across a smaller lake that we had to hike around. We meandered back to the trail and found our campsite. Expecting rain any minute we thought it wise to set up our tent and a tarp lean-to to protect our bags. Just as we had everything set up it started to rain, so in the tent we went.

Roaring River's path of destruction from the Lawn Lake Dam failure

About an hour later, after a break in the rain, we decided to make dinner -- got the stove lit and dinner cooking and it started to rain again. We had rain jackets on but it was pouring so we sheltered under a tree. Then the thunder and lightning started again, and close by -- 5 seconds between lightning and thunder. Our stove, dinner, and a measuring cup were still out in the rain. The storm stalled directly above us: heavy rain and small hail. There was one enormously loud crack of thunder simultaneous with a flash of lightning. By the time the worst of the storm had passed the measuring cup had an inch of water in it. We ate dinner under the tree in the rain and went to sleep. Our tent was fairly dry but some rain had splashed in under the fly and through the mesh.

The "privy"

We had plenty of excuses to cut our trip short: the same lousy forecast for Monday night, a twisted ankle, a non-functioning water filter (at least we brought it this time!) So we dried out and packed up Monday morning and had an easy hike on the trail back to the car.


View Bighorn-Tileston in a larger map

Wild Basin Run

On Friday I decided to head to the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park for my long run. All my running partners were out of town or unavailable, so this was a solo trip. I picked Wild Basin because the trails are long, very moderate in elevation gain, and cooler, sitting between 9,500 and 11,200 feet.

I started running at 7:30 and headed out to Lion Lake #1. The 6.5 mile trail took me about 2 hours with 2500' gain. I only passed two other parties on the way and I had the lake to myself. Then I backtracked a bit and turned off for Ouzel Lake.

On the way, I bumped into some backpackers who told me how just half an hour earlier a black bear stole their open jar of peanut butter. Great. I had to run by their campsite and there was a bear (with peanut butter!) in the area. I started singing. Loudly. I ran into an elderly couple who seemed surprised by my singing. I explained the bear story and they just couldn't believe how stupid the two guys were leaving out their peanut butter. Oh well. I kept singing.

I turned off for Ouzel Lake and started seeing many more people. It was getting later in the morning and there were a lot of tourists out. When I arrived at the lake I was surprised by how many fishermen were there. It was much different from the winter!

Then, I was getting pretty tired. So I backtracked again, passed Ouzel Falls and Calypso Cascades and made it back to the car, sans bear. All in all, my track was just over 17 miles. It took 5 hours.

(Dan did a more moderate "long-run" in town, mostly on trails.)

Chasm Lake with Jim and Jacqueline

Violin Jim is back in town for the Colorado Music Festival. We've seen two of his concerts (wonderful), visited with his 3-year-old twins, and had dinner with him and his wife Jacqueline this summer. Well, at dinner last week the idea of a hike came up. So, we planned a trip for the four of us up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We met at the Longs Peak Ranger Cottage and hiked up the standard trail. It was a lovely walk through the forest. When we hit treeline, we saw many wild flowers and a few marmots.

We hiked up to the Chasm Lake overlook, had snack, and laughed over the cliff-side privy. We started to head down the trail to the lake, but were turned around by a huge snowfield on a 45-degree slope. None of us were equipped for such a crossing, plus Dan and I both had to get back to town for afternoon appointments and the clouds were getting darker.

On the way down we lucked out with the rain (just a bit while we were in the trees), but I think Jim cautioned everyone about the snowfield. He was disappointed we didn't get to go on (we were too!) but it was the safest choice. We got back to the cars in time for Dan and me to run up to Estes Park to get our backpacking permit for the weekend.

See all pics.