Snow on Longs again this morning, rain much of the night on the tent. Yesterday was just the right day for Chasm, and a great hike with which to end my adventures here. I packed up my wet tent and after a little drive around part of the park, a stop at the visitor's center, and breakfast in town, I hit the road towards home. Decided to take a route that is not quite the shortest, but brings me right next to Grand Tetons NP, where I will spend tomorrow. Should have been an easy day of driving, but alas I had to contend with a flat tire and several thunderstorms along the drive. Spent the night in Rock Springs, WY, which is a lovely place in a very different way from Rocky.

I'm certainly going to miss being here, these land forms feel like home now, familiar and comfortable, and there are so very many places I have not yet walked my feet. I did my best to do the park justice, visiting the corners, edges, center, and something more than 20 lakes and 10 waterfalls, plus others that were not named on trails as specific destinations, yet were there to be found along the way. I understand the geography and could likely even draw a reasonable approximation of a map from memory. Can't believe I get to call this my job: travelling, exploring, learning, then painting. I am so very excited to get home and paint!

Thank you again to everyone at Rocky Mountain and at home whose efforts and faith in me made this experience happen.

View of Bear Lake area (Taylor, Otis, Hallet, and Flattop)
from Estes Park on my way out.

Today was day 3 past the end of my official residency time here, and day 3 of tent camping. This was the day for Chasm Lake, which is in Longs Peak's cirque. Ideally, one would start the hike a few hours before sunrise to catch the spectacular alpenglow on Longs. I wasn't feeling up to that after these past two weeks of physical effort, so slept in until 6am and then got up and going. The trail is 8.5+ miles round trip, with some serious altitude gain. The overall gain is something around 2,500 feet, but that number does not describe the decent down alongside of Peacock Pool toward Columbine Falls where one then has to scramble up by the falls and regain the lost elevation, adding quite a bit to the overall ascent. Well worth it though, spectacular lake, unbelievable view of Longs from the base of the diamond. I had to look up the elevation change from the lake to the peak, which is almost 2,500 feet. From the lake, the perspective is deceptive and it's hard to tell whether the peak is vastly enormous or whether that's an illusion. It is, in fact, tremendously huge. With my late-ish start, I ended up fantastically lucky and the rain held off until after 3pm, starting just as I returned to the trail head and ranger station. The station has great photographs and maps of Longs Peak, and is well worth a stop. I would really like to come back and make the climb to the peak some day, with the right companions.

Hiking in along Alpine Brook

Approaching tundra

View down Alpine Brook

Footbridge over Alpine Brook

Entering tundra

View west towards Ft Collins and Boulder.

The trail up.

Last of the krummholz

Longs Peak and the trail split for Chasm Lake and the
keyhole route to the peak.

Trail up towards Chasm Lake

Enormous cairn, I'm guessing this may be one of the
historic cairns from many decades ago.

Room with a view: the privy

The trail to Chasm Lake, Peacock Pool visible

More trail

Getting closer, good view of Peacock Pool and, if you
really try, the falls around center frame.

Columbine Falls and behind the
glacial shelf containing Chasm

Closeup on the falls

Peacock Pool and Roaring Fork below

Above the falls, Ships Prow and the glacial shelf,
also Longs Peak at top right

The scramble portion of the hike

Looking back from the scramble, privy and NPS storage
hut (where they keep gear for Longs Peak rescues)

Chasm Lake and Longs Peak,
people included for scale, sort of.
This doesn't begin to capture the
enormity of the place. That face of
Longs, the diamond, is a two day
technical climb of 2,000ish vertical feet.