Longs Peak

Longs Peak is one of the high points in my life, literally and figuratively. I climbed it in late August of 1951. I was 18 years old. It was an exhilarating experience. I experienced mountain sickness at the summit when I tried to eat on orange. But after I threw up, I felt great, and I almost ran down the mountain. Today's guide books speak of scrambling over the infamous Boulder field, and describe it as one of the most difficult parts of the trail, but my memory is of literally leaping from boulder to boulder, following barely visible bulls eyes that had been painted years before by an intrepid Longspeaker maniac who had timed his run across the boulder field. I was trying to match his time. My memory is that I came close! Have I dreamed all this? I don't think so.

Anyway, today we went near to the  "scene of the crime " - we drove to the  Longs Peak trailhead, looked around, took note that the trail is still snowy and icy even at 9400 feet and is closed to  "casual" ascent. Then we drove the section of the Trail Ridge Road that is open, up to Many Parks Curve, going up U.S. 36 and back on U.S. 34 -  a nice loop. This afforded great views of Longs Peak. Following is a gallery of shots relating to Longs Peak, and of Longs Peak, taken from various perspectives:

     Longs Peak Trailhead parking area

                   Information kiosk

                     Trail map

Longs Peak (elv. 14,255 ft.) from Route 7, near entrance to trailhead - looking west,  with Mt. Meeker (elv. 13,916) on the left. 

These are often referred to as the Twin Peaks.

        Zooming in on Longs Peak

      Longs Peak from Trail Ridge Road

             At Many Camps Curve

One last shot from TRR - weather was closing in! 

We got some nice close-up views on the other side of Mt. Ypsilon - part of the Mummy Range which is the centerpiece of the view from YMCA of the Rockies. 

                   Mt. Ypsilon 

                 

                The Mummy Range

On the way back to Estes Park we stopped at Fall River Visitors' Center,  and in the parking lot we glimpsed a fox! 

          The quick brown fox . . .

We got fish tacos at a Mexican Grill restaurant - yum ! - and came back to a virtually deserted YMCA. Obviously, all the conferences end at Sunday noon. 

The swimming pool was still open, though, and I got in a nice swim!