Rocky Mountain - part 2

9/6:
Today was Longs Peak. After hiking for weeks I knew I would be fine with the miles (15.5) and the elevation gain (5K). The last 2 miles is class 3 climbing so I wasn't sure if I would feel safe enough to get up and down this section. As it turns out I had a perfect day weather wise. That makes a big difference. This top section was interesting and there are some big drop offs but since it was dry and a blue sky day it was safe.
I started at 2:15 based on advice from a ranger the day before. The plan is to get up and down before any afternoon storms role in. These mountains can create their own weather. As it turned out it was perfectly clear on this day. It was actually good to start early because the AM was one of the best parts of the day. The first few miles is in the woods and you could hear streams and waterfalls and interesting hearing all of the forest sounds. It was a full moon so once I got above tree line you could see without your head lamp. The stars were also out so it was great hiking up the trail with the moon. It is a straight forward hike until you get to a boulder field. I went through the boulder field at night which was interesting since it is a rough area. It actually was easier at night because you didn't think about a path but just went through one area at a time.
The sun started to come up as I got to the key hole. Amazing! The mountain started to light up in the early light and I had sunrise on one side of the ridge and the full moon still visible on the other side. The key hole is a large hole through a cliff band that gives you access to the mountain. The rocks making up the keyhole were much larger than I imagined and hang out above you. I waited at the keyhole watching the sunrise for a while until it was day light. The climbing after the keyhole gets tricky so I wanted day light and I also wanted to see everything. The trail beyond the keyhole is clever. It doesn't look like you can get up the mountain without ropes but the trail moves across ledges to get to areas where you can go up. These areas are scrambling where you need your hands to go up. There are steep drop offs in a number of areas. I would not want to be on this hike if it was icy. The trail actually goes around about half of the mountain. You go from the keyhole across to a trough where you gain a lot of elevation. From there you traverse on the other side of the mountain on the "narrows" which goes to the home stretch which is the last steep part up to the top. The top of the trough, transitioning to the narrows, is the place that gave me the most pause. It is a tricky area with big drop offs and it is hard to see the narrows due to a large boulder in the middle of it. The home stretch is steep. I worked along the left side of it. As you get closer to the middle it gets steeper and drops off to the right with smooth rock. Surprisingly the top is flat! With such a dramatic mountain with cliffs all over, the top is a very large (larger than a football field) pile of rocks. You can easily walk around it and look off the steep cliffs that surround the top.
This was an incredible day. Perfect weather and exciting climb with a full moon and a sunrise I will not forget.
I felt pretty good on my way down so decided to take a detour to Chasm lake which goes off the trail to a large waterfall and lake where you can look back up at Longs Peak. This was a spectacular area in itself with wild flowers and multiple water falls. A lot happened in one day!
The camera really didn't capture the sunrise and the low light time of day.

Bolder field at night. Well... you get the idea?

Keyhole at sunrise. Camera not really happy with this amount of light

Keyhole

Stone hut at keyhole

Much better in real life. Full moon at sunrise.

Moving out beyond the keyhole

Top

Time check at top. I guess I didn't need to leave at 2:15! I broke this watch on the way down. $10 down the drain.

Looking down the trail from the top

Trough

Back to keyhole

Boulder field

 

Chasm Lake

Longs Peak on right - smokey in afternoon

Streams I heard in the dark in the AM

And since I didn't take enough pictures on this day here are a few more from the phone. Includes some "traffic" right outside the camp ground when I got back.

Top is flat!

Chasm Lake

Back at camp ground

Traffic

9/7:
After yesterday I took my time getting going on this day. I planned on a relatively short out and back hike. I met some people who live in Colorado early on in the hike who told me about a great loop hike that could be done from the area. The couple lived an hour away and were there for a day hike. Great people who told me some interesting things about Colorado and were outdoor people who share the love of hiking and the outdoors. They recommended the Silverton and Durango area for hiking so I put that on the list.
The loop went by numerous mountain lakes and streams. A very nice last day at Rocky Mountain Park. The last few miles turned into a very different area with orange and brown rock. Lots of interesting large boulders (house size) scattered around and at one point the trail went through a few larger ones.
The loop left from bear lake and went by Lake Helene, Odessa Lake, Fern Lake, Fern Falls, and the pool. You ended up at the cub lake trailhead. A park bus runs from there back to bear lake.