August 17th, 2019
With a big day ahead of us we awoke at 2:30am to start our hike up Longs Peak via the Keyhole Route. We were both unsure whether or not we would really summit as it is a very long and difficult hike that is quite weather dependent but we wanted to give ourselves the chance if we felt good so we started with that in mind. We had prepared well the night prior and we had the campsite for another night so there wasn't much to do but eat breakfast and head off.
The campsite was ~5 minutes from the trailhead so we left the truck and headed up in the dark with only my headlamp to guide the way. It wasn't very hard as the trail is extremely well defined and there were lots of other hikers. We made our way up through the forested switchbacks in the dark at a good pace with Sam leading the way. We both agreed on how enjoyable it was to hike in the dark and how much faster we could go because it was cooler.
After about an hour we popped out of the trees in to an alpine tundra setting. Ahead we could see the beams of at least a dozen headlights from parties in front of us. We kept stomping along until we came to the first junction at mile 3, we checked our watches. It was only 4:30. At the junction there were a few groups milling around unsure of what way to go. To the left looked more direct but I had read just looking at the mountain could be misleading. I checked my map and it clearly showed the trail going to the right in a long roundabout route around the flank of an adjacent mountain, Mount Lady Washington so we headed off with everyone else in that direction.
The boulder field started 2.5 miles after the junction and was the end of the official trail and the start of the Keyhole Route where the climbing becomes more involved. The section between the two was a long shallow grade in alpine tundra but the sun was finally coming up and you could see where we had come. The headlight was put away.
The wind picked up before we arrived at the boulder field and it was actually quite chilly. I usually hike in just my t-shirt but for this section I had my thermal undershirt, t-shirt, puffy jacket and even borrowed Sams extra sweater for a short section. I also had only my baseball hat for my head and my ears got very cold, I had to unfold the elastic lining to keep the wind off my ears. Reminder for next time to bring a toque... Sam had brought some thin gloves but I had left my thick ones at the truck so my hands were also cold. I ended up stowing away my hiking pole and hiking with my hands in my pockets.
At the start of the boulder field you could see The Keyhole, a rock structure that hides the other side of Longs Peak with the remaining climbing and there were some outhouses. We started picking our way up the field at 6:00. At 7:00 we had made it to The Keyhole where a plaque and a small stone hut have been placed. It was VERY windy here (I had to put my hat away for fear of losing it) and we saw some people heading down, they mentioned they feared it was too windy and they would return another day.
Sam and I went through the Keyhole and were able to see the ledges and the trough which were the next part of the hike. At this point we were unsure of whether or not to continue. It was very windy, Sam wasn't even sure if she would be physically fit enough to summit since the beginning of the trip, I had my hesitations about the Ledges and the Narrows from the beginning AND there appeared to be nasty clouds on both sides of Longs Peak. We sat for a while and observed the clouds, if the wind stayed the same it seemed as if the bad weather would narrowly pass by the mountain and on the other side the sky was clear. There were also a lot of other hikers in front of us who would have to come down in the event the weather worsened which gave us some confidence. We decided to go for it.
The next section was the Ledges. I had been nervous about this part as it seemed to be significant exposure and Sam hadn't really experienced anything too nerve wracking but was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't that bad. There were very clear yellow and red bullseyes on rocks indicating the correct direction.
After the Ledges came the Trough which looking at I knew would be a big slog and the last real difficult part of the hike. We were close to the top.
We slogged up the Trough uneventfully and I was surprised at how many people were coming down. I spoke with one of them and they had started at 2:00 AM. I knew we were really close then. At one point someone dislodged a rock and it flew past another hikers face missing by only a bit.
At the top of the Trough was one move that was quite easy if you rock climbed at all and then we were at the Narrows. The Narrows were truly... narrow but the exposure wasn't too bad and the footing was solid. They were mercifully short and before we knew it we were at the Homestretch. The Homestretch is named such because obviously it at the end. About half an hour later at 9:15 we made it to the summit, woohoo!
We had lunch, took pictures, chatted with some other hikers (a lot of people remarked on my Concordia University hat but it was always a different Concordia University they were asking bout) but as usual we were a bit nervous and didn't want to spend too long on top and we headed down. We both agreed to take a break at the Keyhole when the more serious parts were over.
The climb down was slow and painful. Sam wasn't feeling good but kept soldiering on. We made it to the Keyhole and took a short break before taking a longer one at the bottom of the boulder field at the bathrooms. We weren't making good time down as indicated by the numerous other people passing us but that was ok. When were were about 1.5 hours from the parking lot we noticed big dark clouds rolling in and it started to pour and even painfully hail. This was quickly followed by thunder and some flashes of lighting. It was actually so bad that we ran for a good 15 minutes to get in to tree cover because we were scared of the lightning.
We were very worried about all the hikers who were behind us still on the sketchy parts of the hike as the storm had moved in fast, the summit had been completely engulfed and there hadn't been any waning of thunderstorms (later we found out the possibility was in the forecast just not the one we had seen). Once we got in the trees we saw some SAR and park rangers headed up. I couldn't help but think maybe they were there because of the storm.
Luckily the storm had moved on after about an hour and the sun was out strong as ever. We slogged back to the parking lot, I admit to getting a bit frustrated / impatient at our pace (sorry Sam!) and arrived at our campsite at 3:00 PM, 12 hours after we had departed! It didn't feel that long.
Back at camp we decided to head in to Estes Park. I needed to get service to contact my mom so she wouldn't call rescue for us and we wanted to take a shower. We had some dinner in town and made use of the public showers at the local laundry and returned to camp. Back at camp we both passed out by 7:00 PM and slept nearly 12 hours! A very successful day I was happy to have accomplished my main goal for Colorado and EXTREMELY proud of Sam for having done it as well. Congratulations babe!
The campsite was ~5 minutes from the trailhead so we left the truck and headed up in the dark with only my headlamp to guide the way. It wasn't very hard as the trail is extremely well defined and there were lots of other hikers. We made our way up through the forested switchbacks in the dark at a good pace with Sam leading the way. We both agreed on how enjoyable it was to hike in the dark and how much faster we could go because it was cooler.
After about an hour we popped out of the trees in to an alpine tundra setting. Ahead we could see the beams of at least a dozen headlights from parties in front of us. We kept stomping along until we came to the first junction at mile 3, we checked our watches. It was only 4:30. At the junction there were a few groups milling around unsure of what way to go. To the left looked more direct but I had read just looking at the mountain could be misleading. I checked my map and it clearly showed the trail going to the right in a long roundabout route around the flank of an adjacent mountain, Mount Lady Washington so we headed off with everyone else in that direction.
The boulder field started 2.5 miles after the junction and was the end of the official trail and the start of the Keyhole Route where the climbing becomes more involved. The section between the two was a long shallow grade in alpine tundra but the sun was finally coming up and you could see where we had come. The headlight was put away.
The wind picked up before we arrived at the boulder field and it was actually quite chilly. I usually hike in just my t-shirt but for this section I had my thermal undershirt, t-shirt, puffy jacket and even borrowed Sams extra sweater for a short section. I also had only my baseball hat for my head and my ears got very cold, I had to unfold the elastic lining to keep the wind off my ears. Reminder for next time to bring a toque... Sam had brought some thin gloves but I had left my thick ones at the truck so my hands were also cold. I ended up stowing away my hiking pole and hiking with my hands in my pockets.
At the start of the boulder field you could see The Keyhole, a rock structure that hides the other side of Longs Peak with the remaining climbing and there were some outhouses. We started picking our way up the field at 6:00. At 7:00 we had made it to The Keyhole where a plaque and a small stone hut have been placed. It was VERY windy here (I had to put my hat away for fear of losing it) and we saw some people heading down, they mentioned they feared it was too windy and they would return another day.
Sam and I went through the Keyhole and were able to see the ledges and the trough which were the next part of the hike. At this point we were unsure of whether or not to continue. It was very windy, Sam wasn't even sure if she would be physically fit enough to summit since the beginning of the trip, I had my hesitations about the Ledges and the Narrows from the beginning AND there appeared to be nasty clouds on both sides of Longs Peak. We sat for a while and observed the clouds, if the wind stayed the same it seemed as if the bad weather would narrowly pass by the mountain and on the other side the sky was clear. There were also a lot of other hikers in front of us who would have to come down in the event the weather worsened which gave us some confidence. We decided to go for it.
The next section was the Ledges. I had been nervous about this part as it seemed to be significant exposure and Sam hadn't really experienced anything too nerve wracking but was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't that bad. There were very clear yellow and red bullseyes on rocks indicating the correct direction.
After the Ledges came the Trough which looking at I knew would be a big slog and the last real difficult part of the hike. We were close to the top.
We slogged up the Trough uneventfully and I was surprised at how many people were coming down. I spoke with one of them and they had started at 2:00 AM. I knew we were really close then. At one point someone dislodged a rock and it flew past another hikers face missing by only a bit.
At the top of the Trough was one move that was quite easy if you rock climbed at all and then we were at the Narrows. The Narrows were truly... narrow but the exposure wasn't too bad and the footing was solid. They were mercifully short and before we knew it we were at the Homestretch. The Homestretch is named such because obviously it at the end. About half an hour later at 9:15 we made it to the summit, woohoo!
We had lunch, took pictures, chatted with some other hikers (a lot of people remarked on my Concordia University hat but it was always a different Concordia University they were asking bout) but as usual we were a bit nervous and didn't want to spend too long on top and we headed down. We both agreed to take a break at the Keyhole when the more serious parts were over.
The climb down was slow and painful. Sam wasn't feeling good but kept soldiering on. We made it to the Keyhole and took a short break before taking a longer one at the bottom of the boulder field at the bathrooms. We weren't making good time down as indicated by the numerous other people passing us but that was ok. When were were about 1.5 hours from the parking lot we noticed big dark clouds rolling in and it started to pour and even painfully hail. This was quickly followed by thunder and some flashes of lighting. It was actually so bad that we ran for a good 15 minutes to get in to tree cover because we were scared of the lightning.
We were very worried about all the hikers who were behind us still on the sketchy parts of the hike as the storm had moved in fast, the summit had been completely engulfed and there hadn't been any waning of thunderstorms (later we found out the possibility was in the forecast just not the one we had seen). Once we got in the trees we saw some SAR and park rangers headed up. I couldn't help but think maybe they were there because of the storm.
Luckily the storm had moved on after about an hour and the sun was out strong as ever. We slogged back to the parking lot, I admit to getting a bit frustrated / impatient at our pace (sorry Sam!) and arrived at our campsite at 3:00 PM, 12 hours after we had departed! It didn't feel that long.
Back at camp we decided to head in to Estes Park. I needed to get service to contact my mom so she wouldn't call rescue for us and we wanted to take a shower. We had some dinner in town and made use of the public showers at the local laundry and returned to camp. Back at camp we both passed out by 7:00 PM and slept nearly 12 hours! A very successful day I was happy to have accomplished my main goal for Colorado and EXTREMELY proud of Sam for having done it as well. Congratulations babe!
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| Boulder field looking at the Keyhole |
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| Sun finally starting to come up enough for a picture |
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| How I feel hiking a 3:00 AM |
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| Sam in the Trough |
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| Homestretch |
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| Summit |
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| Summit photo |
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| Thunderstorm rolling in, before we ran! |
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