The summit-ting of our second 14er, Castle Peak, was an endeavor that truly epitomized the One Water, One Coffee, One Beer ethos. As an homage to this momentous occasion, I’m posting all of the footie in a new format. Update: All four chapters are now live! Plus, playlist available via Spotify, below!
For those that keep track of such things, we’ve now started to proceed roughly in reverse chronological order. I’ve developed a seriously massive backlog of material and have finally endeavored to sift out the boring stuff and post the rest.
Chasm Lake is a spectacular alpine lake nestled just beneath the Diamond on the east face of Long’s Peak. This trip was another one of our 14er warm up hikes, although it’s well worth doing apart from the exercise. Yet again, you quickly climb above treeline and are treated to spectacular views, primarily to the west where Long’s Peak looms above.
Once again we hit the trail around six or seven. We weren’t always this diligent with regards to our alpine starts; more on that in subsequent episodes… There are really no downsides to starting so early, apart from the obvious. On the other hand, you spend a substantial portion of the hike climbing during the ‘golden hour’, with beautiful long shadows streaking westward; the slopes ahead bathed in the warm glow of the morning sun. As an added perk it’s usually pretty cool at this time of day – perfect for climbing!
The Diamond looms in the distance.
Wildflowers with Columbine Falls to the left.
Peacock Pool!
Julie and Kelly
Chasm Lake with an Arc’teryx photo shoot ongoing in the background…
Like Quandary, Long’s is crowded on nice days. However, if your goal is Chasm Lake, there is plenty of room to spread out and relax in relative quiet. Once there, if our experience is at all representative you’ll have the opportunity to watch climbers working on multi-pitch routes on the huge walls that surround the lake.
After many weeks of warm-up hikes, Kelly and I finally bagged our first 14er! 14ers.com provides a comprehensive rating system, as well as more objective information to include elevation gained, average slope, mileage, and trail technicality. With this information we were able to target the easier hikes within striking distance of our house and then gradually build up until we were confident in our 14er-summitting capabilities.
With Quandary Peak in mind, we made a point of hiking each weekend until we could comfortably hike a comparable relief over similar mileage. With that out of the way, the only difference would be the altitude. In hindsight, we definitely felt the altitude, but with any endurance activity, the key seemed to be in settling into a sustainable pace. I’m sure it helped that we spent the entire previous day at altitude.
We hit the trail bright and early: probably just shy of 7AM. The trail-head was already a zoo. Cars were parked down the street and into the overflow lot. Apparently this is one of the most heavily trafficked 14ers. Additionally, of the multiple routes to the summit, this trail-head services the easiest.
There are a few steepish pitches but they turned out to be relatively brief. Most of the hike was a very moderate incline. Additionally, you pop out above treeline very quickly, delivering great views for nearly the entire hike. That said, sunscreen, shades and a hat are pretty mandatory.
As a super bonus to our first 14er submitting, we encountered numerous mountain goats lounging on the cliffs toward the higher elevations!
