Hiking up Longs Peak Colorado

Part 1. After cleaning up from my 40th Birthday Party the night before, it was time to head out to climb Longs Peak. Because we were doing this as a two-day trip, we didn't have to leave that early .. most day-trippers are on the trail by 0400 - ouch! Myke had most everything organized, so all I had to take care of was my personal items and a sleeping bag.

So we left the house mid-morning for the 90 minute drive to the Longs Peak trailhead. Since it was a Sunday, it was fairly crowded, so we just dropped everyone off with our stuff and parked the car elsewhere. About then, I realized I didn't have my sleeping bag. I was certain I had placed it out at the house, so I was convinced someone had stuffed it in their backpacks, but all claimed it wasn't them. Wellll ... at this point, it was a moot point (we had what we had, and I figured someone would pull it out eventually), so we hit the trail around 11'ish, starting at 9,400' elevation.

With overnight packs, we were slowed down a bit, but we motor'ed fairly well, especially since we had some sea-level folks with us, and we were at the Boulder Field 6 miles away at 12,760' less than 4 hours later.

Dirk puts on pack and shoes to join us ...

Maybe next year Dirk! ;-)
dirk hike 1 dirk hike 2

Myke, Kurt, Alek, my Dad (w/Kyle), and Kris

My Mom, Wife, and two little boys wave goodbye
about-to-leave wave goodbyte

Halfway there - Kris says STOP the car!

Ahhhhh ... that feels MUCH better!
pee 1 pee 2

Longs Peak looms as we get closer

Kurt, Myke, Alek, Oleg, and Kris ready to go
BTW, where is Alek's sleeping bag?
longs peaks car ready 1

First water break - my Dad is looking good

But Kurt is whining already
water 1 water 2

Everyone hanging out on a bridge

Myke going for the "GQ" look
bridge 1 bridge 2

Kris says no problemooo so far
And ohh by the way Alek, I've got MY sleeping bag!

Kurt a bit more chipper here
thumbs up yep

Stream at F2.8 and 1/500 second exposure

Same shot at F8.0 and 1/50 second exposure
stream 1 stream 2

Looking back down from the above stream

Forest starting to thin out as we climb
bridge 3 tundra 1

Alek the photographer

And here's the picture I took from back there
photographer tundra 2

Longs Peak coming into view

Getting a little closer ...
longs peak 3 longs peak 4

Really starting to thin out now

Hanging out at Chasm Junction - 11,540'
longs peak 5 Hanging Out

The trail to Chasm Lake - we go up and to the right
Note the Diamond at the end of Chasm Lake

Colorful flowers eaking out a living at 11,500 feet
chasm lake mountain flowers

Myke and my Dad make sure we're going the right way

1.7 miles to the Boulder Field
map 1 map 2

Entering the Longs Peak Boulder Field

Myke finally starts carrying his weight ...
boulder field 3 boulder field 4

My Dad leads the way at the end

Looking pretty good for someone from sea-level
boulder field 5 boulder field 6

Last few steps to the Boulder Fields campsite
Note the "keyhole" up on the ridgeline

Setting up camp with Longs Peak in the background
... and Alek's knee in the foreground
boulder field 7 boulder field 8


Go on to Part 2 - Hanging out at the Boulder Field, or back to Climbing Longs Peak - © 2003-2004 www.komar.org Alek Komarnitsky