sapblatt
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- Oct 22, 2004
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Greetings from Asbury Park, er, I mean Estes Park, CO – the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. The convention is over and vacation has begun. I was up and on the road by 5:30am this morning for the short drive to my first destination – Deer Mountain. This peak tops out at 10,013 feet, which would make it the highest peak I have ever hiked if I succeed (Mount Washington is the current record holder.) This is a pretty mellow hike – about 1100 feet gain over three miles. It is the lack of oxygen that will kill you! The journey over to the trailhead was exciting too as I was able to see and photograph both elk and mule deer. I finally arrived at the trailhead and was on my way at 6:45am.
It did not take long for me to figure out I was not at sea level. Four nights in Denver (5200 feet) and one night in Estes Park (7400 feet) did not do the trick completely – the 8900 foot trailhead elevation had me feeling it in short order. It is funny – you are not really sweating, you are not sore or tired – but you get so winded so easily. I had to take numerous breaks for breathing and photography. I was superhydrated which I think allowed me to keep going onwards and I never got a headache, which would have signaled some potential trouble.
I have only done limited hiking in the west – a little in Yosemite and Grand Canyon – a little in Oregon and Washington – the thing that always amazes me is how easy the trails are compared to the Whites. Today’s trail is basically a dusty path – an occasional rock, a rare root – and once or twice some steps – basically a nice path. It reminded me nothing of the last mile and half to any Northern Presidential summits! Within a couple of hundred yards there is an incredible outcrop with a tremendous view over to Longs Peak. This peak is the “one” in RNMP that all is measured by. It is the highest (only 14ker in the park), and it is the toughest climb and most harrowing. Longs is eight miles one way and has nearly a 5000 foot gain by the traditional keyhole approach. From what I understand there are a few spots where a slip would require a trip to the cemetery. Shortly after this outlook I saw a father and his two sons (from Oklahoma) looking off the trail – when I got there I saw a huge male elk (buck?) – about 50 feet from me – he was obviously used to people.
Soon I entered the many switchbacks that gently moved me up to towards the summit. When facing the south I had near constant view of Longs, and when facing the northwest the views of the Mummy Range, particularly Ypsilon Mountain, which is flanked by Chiquita to the southwest and Fairchild to the northeast. Eventually the switchback ends and the trail becomes quite flat and then slightly downhill until it reaches the junction where there is a .2 mile spur that brings you to the summit. From here Longs Peak looks like it is right there on the other side of Beaver Meadows. Truth be told, it is 9 miles south and 4200 feet higher. The weather front started to move thru and it the wind really picked up. I am proud of myself for staying on the summit for one hour where I was treated to seeing a pika carry one of its young and I also saw a hummingbird! The trip up took 2:30 and the descent was very easy and I was back to the car in ninety minutes.
From here I decided to drive Trail Ridge Road, the highest maintained road in the world. A ton of it is over 10k and the high point is over 12k. It is a long, winding road with many great overlooks. I stopped at just about every one of them to take pictures. What was the most amazing thing to me is that I seemed to have hit every possible type of weather: sun; cloudy; windy; rain; sleet; hail; thunder and lightning and snow – all in about a 25 mile stretch. I continued on until I hit the Continental Divide at Milner Pass. This area and much of the road was bordered by huge walls of snow from five to twenty feet tall.
Later in the afternoon I went to the Fall River entrance to the park with the hope of seeing more wildlife. I was not disappointed. I saw a huge herd of elk grazing and drinking. This area is known as Sheep Lake as the Big Horn Sheep descend from the Mummy Range to get minerals they need from these waters and grass. After staying for about an hour I was going to leave when I heard that there were some Big Horns in the mountains about ½ a mile down the road – I got there in time and was able to get a few long range pictures.
Here are the pics – the scenery ones are a lot better than the animal ones – the mountains don’t move as much! I am planning on making a condensed album when I can that has the best pics from my trip – these albums are very large!
EARLY MORNING http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaNz4¬ag=1
DEER MOUNTAIN
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN0G¬ag=1
TRAIL RIDGE ROAD
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN0k¬ag=1
FALL RIVER/SHEEP’S LAKE
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN1C¬ag=1
It did not take long for me to figure out I was not at sea level. Four nights in Denver (5200 feet) and one night in Estes Park (7400 feet) did not do the trick completely – the 8900 foot trailhead elevation had me feeling it in short order. It is funny – you are not really sweating, you are not sore or tired – but you get so winded so easily. I had to take numerous breaks for breathing and photography. I was superhydrated which I think allowed me to keep going onwards and I never got a headache, which would have signaled some potential trouble.
I have only done limited hiking in the west – a little in Yosemite and Grand Canyon – a little in Oregon and Washington – the thing that always amazes me is how easy the trails are compared to the Whites. Today’s trail is basically a dusty path – an occasional rock, a rare root – and once or twice some steps – basically a nice path. It reminded me nothing of the last mile and half to any Northern Presidential summits! Within a couple of hundred yards there is an incredible outcrop with a tremendous view over to Longs Peak. This peak is the “one” in RNMP that all is measured by. It is the highest (only 14ker in the park), and it is the toughest climb and most harrowing. Longs is eight miles one way and has nearly a 5000 foot gain by the traditional keyhole approach. From what I understand there are a few spots where a slip would require a trip to the cemetery. Shortly after this outlook I saw a father and his two sons (from Oklahoma) looking off the trail – when I got there I saw a huge male elk (buck?) – about 50 feet from me – he was obviously used to people.
Soon I entered the many switchbacks that gently moved me up to towards the summit. When facing the south I had near constant view of Longs, and when facing the northwest the views of the Mummy Range, particularly Ypsilon Mountain, which is flanked by Chiquita to the southwest and Fairchild to the northeast. Eventually the switchback ends and the trail becomes quite flat and then slightly downhill until it reaches the junction where there is a .2 mile spur that brings you to the summit. From here Longs Peak looks like it is right there on the other side of Beaver Meadows. Truth be told, it is 9 miles south and 4200 feet higher. The weather front started to move thru and it the wind really picked up. I am proud of myself for staying on the summit for one hour where I was treated to seeing a pika carry one of its young and I also saw a hummingbird! The trip up took 2:30 and the descent was very easy and I was back to the car in ninety minutes.
From here I decided to drive Trail Ridge Road, the highest maintained road in the world. A ton of it is over 10k and the high point is over 12k. It is a long, winding road with many great overlooks. I stopped at just about every one of them to take pictures. What was the most amazing thing to me is that I seemed to have hit every possible type of weather: sun; cloudy; windy; rain; sleet; hail; thunder and lightning and snow – all in about a 25 mile stretch. I continued on until I hit the Continental Divide at Milner Pass. This area and much of the road was bordered by huge walls of snow from five to twenty feet tall.
Later in the afternoon I went to the Fall River entrance to the park with the hope of seeing more wildlife. I was not disappointed. I saw a huge herd of elk grazing and drinking. This area is known as Sheep Lake as the Big Horn Sheep descend from the Mummy Range to get minerals they need from these waters and grass. After staying for about an hour I was going to leave when I heard that there were some Big Horns in the mountains about ½ a mile down the road – I got there in time and was able to get a few long range pictures.
Here are the pics – the scenery ones are a lot better than the animal ones – the mountains don’t move as much! I am planning on making a condensed album when I can that has the best pics from my trip – these albums are very large!
EARLY MORNING http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaNz4¬ag=1
DEER MOUNTAIN
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN0G¬ag=1
TRAIL RIDGE ROAD
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN0k¬ag=1
FALL RIVER/SHEEP’S LAKE
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaN1C¬ag=1
