Hiking – Chasm Lake (RMNP)

All participants will meet at the Longs Peak Trailhead for a 7:00 am start. 

Meet Location: Longs Peak Trailhead, Longs Peak Entrance, Rocky Mountain National Park.  No reservations are needed.  Ample parking; however, this lot fills early with those climbing Longs Peak.  If the lot is full, park along the roadside facing downhill and, if at all possible, with your wheels off of the asphalt.  Walk back up to the trailhead.  There is a toilet at the trailhead.  Denver area carpool participants will meet at Coors Tek lot adjacent to CMC office for a 5:30 am departure (approx. 1.5 hour drive).  Northern area carpool participants can meet in Lyons at Sandstone Ranch on Railroad Ave for a 6:10 am departure (approx. 45 minute drive). 

**It is your responsibility to let the leader know where you will be meeting. 

**All trip participants must be fully vaccinated. If you are starting to feel sick, cancel yourself from the trip.

**PLEASE read the trip description (see Leader's Notes below) carefully and only sign up if you have the qualifications expected.

**If you are on a waitlist, check it frequently.  The system may or may not inform you if you have been moved to the roster.  Out of courtesy to others, please do not sign up for this trip unless you fully intend to go.

**We will send out an email a day or two before the trip with pertinent details.

I'm sure most of you have been to Chasm Lake.  The lake - and the route to it - rate as one of the finest day hikes imaginable!  We will take the standard trails to the lake and back down to Chasm Junction.  But, our focus on this hike is not the route to the lake, it is the route back from the lake.  From Chasm Junction, we will avoid almost all of the standard trail system (and the people on it) thereby making sort of a twisted loop out of this hike.  You'll learn some of the history of the trail up here along the way also.

From Chasm Junction, we'll continue down along the ridge of Mills Moraine.  This was once the standard route to Chasm Junction and a remnant of the trail remains.  The views along the ridge are excellent.  We'll rejoin the standard trail briefly before branching off into the brush along a new "speedy" trail.  This is the route now used by uber-athletes trying to set FKTs for the ascent of Longs Peak (which right now stands at an astonishing 1:55 round-trip from the Ranger Station).

Once back in the Goblin Forest area, we'll pick up an old telephone line cut through the forest.  The history on this is interesting (and involves the CMC) and it'll be shared with you.  We will continue to descend on the various "hasty trails" all of the way back to the parking lot.  The hasty trails are used by rangers and rescue personnel as a way of moving quickly up and down the mountainside without having to interact with hikers.  They are mostly used, however, by mountaineers and the aforementioned athletes trying to get up the mountain quickly.  Our route is vastly more engaging than the standard trail and is often beside Alpine Brook.