Long's Peak-Colorado

[Desert-Boonie]

Well to the two of you who still know me on this site, and the thousands of members that might remember reading about my hikes, this one is for you.

It has pretty much been a year since i've done any real hiking/adventure. After Mt. Rainier last year my time filled up with school and work that I just didn't get out much. Well that had to change this summer and what better to get me back into the game than a trip to Colorado and a 14er on the list to do. My buddy Mike and I decided to head up to Fort Collins and stay a few days as he knows some people up there so I couldn't resist this chance. Of course we had to bring the heat with us and it was pretty warm up there the last few days. Gee this is what I came up here for? Well Saturday August 2nd we hit up the mountain. Long's Peak. A 15 mile round trip hike with 5,000ft of elevation gain. Yeah that's a good hike to start back up again. Well it was a great day for it. We started at 5:15am where there were hundreds of cars already there. I couldn't believe it, i've never seen anything like this. It was still dark, but you could make out the trail no problem. The sun came up a little bit after we started and what a great sight it was. A nice flowing stream to relax you, and then once we got to the treeline we saw the sunrise coming up over the Twin Sisters, 11,000 foot peaks to the east. We then saw Long's Peak and how far it was and I just laughed and said here we go again. Above the treeline is where you start to run into the tons of hikers already on the trail. My buddy Mike and I were making good time and were making our way through the switchbacks and up to the boulder field. The sun was out and if it wasn't for a nice breeze it would have been HOT! My buddy Mike was starting to fade before the boulder field and I had to wait for him to catch up to me there. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was feeling a little tired but will go on. I told him I was going to go up to the keyhole and i'll see him there. Getting up the boulders is a nice leg burner and once up to the keyhole it was freezing. Shaded and wind like you wouldn't believe. Good thing I didn't have a jacket with me and was sweating a little bit. I decided I had to keep going and couldn't wait there or else I would freeze. The drop offs on the other side of the keyhole are amazing once you first see them. A few thousand feet down makes you want to hug the rock at first. The trail goes along side the mountain with the drop off right there but a good size trail to still be on. I then hit the section where you go up. It was crowded here as a lot of people were making their way up slowly. Luckily I was able to get by some people and the others had no problem letting anyone by. At the top of this section you come to another ledge with another giant drop off and just get vertigo instantly. (But it's awesome) You make your way around another ledge and then the last stretch of rock which is class 3 climbing but nothing too bad. Again lots of people but easy to make your way around them.

The summit! At first it almost seems weird seeing a lot of people up here. But hey at least they are doing. The summit is huge with some of the greatest views you can get. Lot's of drop offs you don't want to go off and it couldn't have been a clearer day. No breeze and sunny. I spent an hour on top waiting for my buddy Mike, but he never shows up. I decided to head back down where it is crowded again which makes the descent very slow in certain sections. As I make my way back down I enjoy my last views of the Rockies. WOW! I get back down to the boulder field where my buddy Mike is taking a nap. He got up to the keyhole and said he just couldn't go any further as he had a headache and felt sick. Altitude? Perhaps, but it sucked knowing he couldn't make it up. We got our things together and started our long way back down. Along the way Mike kept getting slower and slower and I started to worry about him. He was out of water so I gave him half of my water and a gatorade I had. Surprisingly I only drank about 40oz of water and a 32oz gatorade the entire hike as I kept hydrated the night before, as I am used to not drinking much on hikes. (Ask Tim) We hit the 2.5 mile to go mark and Mike was almost dead on his feet. He said he couldn't go anymore and wanted to sit down but I wouldn't let him, I kept him moving as we were approaching the treeline. I kept with him from there for a bit and I think he just got a boost of energy from that as we made it back into the forest. It seemed to take forever to hike the last 2 miles and we saw a deer in the trees from there. The last mile it started raining and I really believed that helped Mike as well as it cooled everything off and was very refreshing. Being in that sun all day wasn't too much fun. We got back to the trailhead at 3:30pm and were both glad to be done. Mike seemed better as we did get lower in altitude and the nice cool rain cooled us off. We got back in the car and drove back to Fort Collins. On the way back we got to see a black bear along the Big Thompson river. Probably 50 people pulled off the road to take a picture. It was insane. We got back home and had our post hike drink waiting for us as we were at the New Belgium brewery 2 days before. Nothing like 64oz of fresh beer to hydrate you back up. Mike and I both slept like babies after this one and the next day we were both a little sore. I guess i'm getting old. That day we drove up the Poudre river and got to see a moose and her baby and some great sights along the river. It was great country up there and a great time for my first trip to Colorado. I hope to do a few more 14ers up there, but I guess i'm getting old and picky because I don't want to do any that are over 10 miles of hiking. We'll see. I wish Tim could have made it up for this one but I know we'll do something good again soon.

Thanks to everyone who read this, and hopefully i'll be posting more on here again soon. I've been away for awhile. Keep on hiking everyone, stay safe and maybe i'll see you out there.

enjoi,

Ken
_________________
~Never Satisfied~

"If I can't be my own, I'd feel better dead"

[Davis2001R6]

Nice job Ken! Looked like a nice trip.

Your teasing me though, I drive up there on Thursday, the goal is 4 14'ers and a softball tournament, we shall see.

If your ever free to go hiking around here let me know.

-TIM-

[sbkelley]

Ken,

Longs Peak is indeed a classic and certainly the main route is like a city sidewalk on weekends. Very well done, as that's a long day with some exposure and moderate scrambling to boot.

Congrats
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Mountains complement desert as desert complements city, as wilderness complements and completes civilization. - Ed Abbey

[Canyon Dweller]

Great repert! 4 years of looking at that mountain and still have not done it.

[gpsjoe]

I just got back from 3 weeks in Colorado.

Congrats on Long's Peak. I did it 7/13/2006 but not nearly in the times you posted. I agree that the steep last 1/2 mile was a bit intimidating especially on the way down. But there was a super human who flew by me on the way down and uttered words of encouragement like "you're doing great, keep it up". It's good that I don't carry a gun. I might have shot him. Glad to have done that one but won't do it again.

In Colorado in the last 3 weeks I did 8 14ers. 4 I have done before are Massive, Gray, Torreys and Quandary. 4 new ones were Lincoln and Bross (from Quartsville Creek TH - not Kite Lake - 4WD or high clearance needed) and Bierstadt and Harvard.

Tragedy on Quandary. Last Wednesday a 31 year old master chef and experienced hiker who had hiked Quandary before tried to climb up the west side of Quandary (not the regular trail). Apparently this approach ordinarily requires technical equipment which he did not have. He was reported missing af 5:30 PM and the search for him was unsucessful and continued on Thursday when GB and I did the regular trail. On our way back from the peak we were interviewed by a rescue worker parked on the trail to determine if we saw anything which we didn't. This fellow was brought in from Grand Junction since they needed extra rescue personnel and stationed on the trail. In fairness to the excellent rescue staff, the west canyon was fogged in badly on Thursday so visibility was poor. Sometime late Thursday they recovered the body. Full story at

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080807/NEWS/707200700/1001&parentprofile=1055

[Desert-Boonie]

You are certainly the peak bagger gpsjoe. A great inspiration for me.

Thanks for the responses everyone.
_________________
~Never Satisfied~

"If I can't be my own, I'd feel better dead"