I took advantage of spectacular weather this week to visit RMNP, and specifically hike to Chasm Lake. The timed entry system is no longer in effect for the park so that eliminates a lot of the hassle of doing this hike. Chasm Lake sits in a cirque at the bottom of the eastern face of Longs Peak (probably the most climbed 14er in CO). In the summer at the peak of the climbing season, the trailhead parking lot fills up very early, as most climbers leave in the 2-3AM time frame. I was surprised and pleased to find the parking lot mostly empty upon arrival at around 8:30 AM. Apparently, the climbing season is over for all but the most experienced mountaineers due to ice and snow on the route.
The lake sits at about 11,800 feet and is directly beneath east face (the diamond) of Longs. The trail ascends on a gradual but steady uphill climb and breaks out in the open after after about an hour or so. At Chasm Junction (9405), the trail splits off and heads to either Chasm Lake or the Longs Peak Keyhole route. The trail to the lake traverses a pretty steep slope with a substantial drop off on one side. In the winter this is a pretty dicey traverse. The official trail ends just before a steep but short scramble up to the lake. This was complicated by the presence of ice and it took a while to figure out a way up. There is no yellow paint and only the occasional cairn.
The view from the lake was breathtaking, but I was unable to capture it with the camera. The walls of the peak extend upwards of around 2500 feet straight up from the lake, so I couldn't fit it all in. You can google the view as photographed by experts. In one of the attached pics (9386), you can see the Twin Sisters that I hiked a couple of weeks ago. The only wildlife seen on this trip were a herd of Elk sauntering across the highway near the trailhead.
The lake sits at about 11,800 feet and is directly beneath east face (the diamond) of Longs. The trail ascends on a gradual but steady uphill climb and breaks out in the open after after about an hour or so. At Chasm Junction (9405), the trail splits off and heads to either Chasm Lake or the Longs Peak Keyhole route. The trail to the lake traverses a pretty steep slope with a substantial drop off on one side. In the winter this is a pretty dicey traverse. The official trail ends just before a steep but short scramble up to the lake. This was complicated by the presence of ice and it took a while to figure out a way up. There is no yellow paint and only the occasional cairn.
The view from the lake was breathtaking, but I was unable to capture it with the camera. The walls of the peak extend upwards of around 2500 feet straight up from the lake, so I couldn't fit it all in. You can google the view as photographed by experts. In one of the attached pics (9386), you can see the Twin Sisters that I hiked a couple of weeks ago. The only wildlife seen on this trip were a herd of Elk sauntering across the highway near the trailhead.
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