Longs Peak -Trip Report- By Kristen Taddonio Age 13 August 14, 1996
Longs Peak. Even its name tells you that it's going to be a long day.
For us (my dad and I) it started out with disappointment at 2:30 am.
We had packed everything, gotten dressed were ready to go, only to step
outside and get blown over by wind gusts of 60 mile per
hour. "Oh well" I said "Maybe another day". Actually, I was just anxious
to get back to bed. Less than an hour and a half later we were
at the trail head. My dad hates to give up. He stayed up all night and
the second he heard the wind die down he got me up and we were
gone. We arrived at the trail head at 4:04 am, for Longs Peak that's a
late start. Being that there had been a full moon a few nights ago,
the path was illuminated clearly enough that we could put our
flashlights away. We were in a hurry to get to the tree line so that we
could
see the sunrise over the Rockies. We made it in a little over an hour
and a half. Of all the breathtaking views in our national parks, this
has to be one of the greatest of them all.
Its impossible for me to put into words what the experience is like to
watch the twinkling lights of a city miles away and a mile down, go
out one by one as the sun casts a pink-orange shadow over the horizon
with fading stars and moon in the background.
Coming out of the trees I found that we were approaching a wide grassy
strip of land, scattered with occasional boulders, that provided
a wonderful view of the East Face of Longs Peak. It's not that far off I
thought. Later I found that my eyes can be very deceiving. We
had full sunlight by the time we approached the Chasm Lake turn off.
There is a porta-potty there, but I found I didn't need it. I believe
my body was totally using up every bit of nourishment I put into it. I
noticed a horse hitching-post up there, and as I was hiking, I
couldn't help but feel sorry for the horses that used it.
There were so many rocks in the path that I wondered if the Boulder
Field, which I had heard about, could be much worse (It was).
>From the cutoff to Chasm Lake the trail takes a pretty straight course
to the ridge along the back side of Mt. Lady Washington. Once
over the ridge the wind really hit me. The trail from there is mostly
switch backs, and I found the wind was a great advantage when my
back was to it. It literally pushed me up the trail! Hiking while facing
the wind was the hard part.
Finally, we reached the Boulder Field. I couldn't believe how many
people I saw! There must have been at least 50 climbers just in the
Boulder Field. Looking around the Boulder Field, the view consisted of
two open air toilets, with walls low enough that your head sticks
out for a view of the field, the Keyhole, the storm shelter, and
thousands of car-sized boulders. Here we took our first Real break. Of
course I had taken the occasional little breather, but here we got to
take off our packs, sit down, eat trail mix and relax.
The Boulder Field takes a lot more time to cross than it looks like it
should. That's due to the endless boulder hopping (don't slip) and
frequent rests to catch your breath and figure out your next route. When
we reached the Keyhole, the passage from hiking to real
climbing began. There is no trail here, just some small bullseye marks
painted on the rocks that you follow in a connect the dots fashion.
Climbing through the Keyhole the wind was gusting up to 70 miles per
hour but we kept going. The route gradually climbs across the
backside of the mountain with steep drop-offs, but relatively safe
footing, until you reach the Shaft. The Shaft looked simple enough, just
a steep and narrow stretch of rocks. We'll just scramble up it in no
time I thought. Here again my eyes deceived me. The rocks here are
very loose and you have to watch where you put your foot. Not so much
because you might fall, which you might, but because you
might start an avalanche and take out the 20 people climbing below you.
One thing I noticed while climbing was that everyone had something nice
to say. One guy in particular was amazed that I was climbing
Longs Peak at only 13 years old.
Every time I thought we were nearing the top of the shaft I'd look up to
find we still had a long way to go. I swear that mountain kept
growing! At the top of the Shaft we reached the Narrows. If you loose
your step here you'll have a long time for your life to flash before
your eyes until you splat on the rocks 1000 feet below. The Narrows
consists of about a quarter mile of traversing along narrow ledges
often times only wide enough for one person.
And finally...the Homestretch. The Homestretch is like the Shaft, only
less gravel and half the distance. Then, we were there! I felt like I
was on top of the world (I was). I couldn't help screaming out "YES"!!!
There were at least 15 other people at the top of the world to
hear me. They smiled as if they knew the feeling. We arrived at the top
at 10:00 am, about the time I usually wake up in the morning.
We made the 8 mile climb in just under 6 hours.
We ate lunch, took some pictures and then I took a 15 minute nap. The
wind wasn't so bad on top, but it sure was freezing. I had on 4
layers of clothes and I was still shivering. The view was spectacular.
Mountains as far as you could see to one side and hills flattening out
to the Plains on the other. I would have loved to see the sunset from up
here but Colorado weather just doesn't permit a safe afternoon
climb.
We left at 11:00am and I found it much easier to go down, probably
because I slid on my butt most of the way. By the time I was at the
bottom of the Shaft my pants had a rip in them so large I thought they
might fall apart. My fingers were cold and swollen. If I did it again
I would bring gloves. Another thing I noticed when we got to the bottom
of the shaft was that the clouds really started to pile up. I tried
to hurry and get back to the Keyhole and the emergency shelter by the
time the storm hit. I wasn't fast enough. It started to sleet and the
rocks became slippery and even colder. When we did make it to the
shelter the storm was on us. It was hailing with thunder and
lightning. If there is one thing that I'm really scared of its mountain
storms. When I was younger I was caught in a storm on top of Flattop
Mountain and it scared the heck out of me. It didn't help ease my fears
when lightning hit the ridge by Mt. Lady Washington. We left the
shelter when we thought it was safe but I never stopped worrying until
we made it back to the tree-line. Then, like magic, it cleared up.
On the way down we saw a herd of elk in the valley below Mt. Lady
Washington. I passed many breathtaking sights that I hadn't been
able to see in the dark on our way up in the early morning hours. There
were streams, with mossy wildflower beds in the center, trickling
down the mountain, and there seemed to be some wild critter in every
tree I saw. By the time we reached the end of the trail I was
actually skipping! The realization that I had climbed the tallest
mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park kept me in a good mood for
days. No one has really enjoyed ice cream until they've tasted it after
12 hours of trudging up and down a mountain.
And that was my very long day on Longs Peak. Who knows what's
next...Everest? Maybe, but I'll wait till I'm a little more experienced
for that one.