chasm lake hike

Chasm Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park has been on my to-do list of hikes for a while now, so I decided to go ahead and tackle it this weekend. This hike starts from the Longs Peak Trailhead at 9,400 feet and gains 2,380 feet in 4.2 miles. Chasm Lake is nestled directly below the famous East Face of Longs Peak. Standing on the shore of Chasm Lake, the summit of 14,259-foot Longs Peak is almost a vertical half-mile straight above you. Photos simply can’t do the scene justice.

Just as a side note: Chasm Meadows and Chasm Lake are the jumping off points for technical climbing routes up the sheer, intimidating eastern side of Longs, Rocky Mountain National Park’s only 14er. People come from all over the world to climb here.

I started this hike a little before five o’clock this morning (Saturday, August 15th). I hiked almost an hour before it was light enough to turn off my headlamp & stow it in my pack. Any weekend in August that you head up this trail, you can expect lots of company, and this particular Saturday morning was no exception. I caught up to & passed several groups of slower hikers before I reached tree line. Once above tree line, and with the light strengthening, I could see there was quite a bit of overcast. I didn’t think this had been in the forecast for the morning, so I felt a pang of disappointment, especially when I saw that Longs Peak’s distinctive summit cap was smothered by cloud cover. I debated whether to continue with the hike, but decided to press on, hoping that the overcast would dissipate somewhat by the time I reached Chasm Lake.

Once I reached Chasm Junction, I stopped to take a breather, eat a few sugar cookies (what can I say?), and guzzle some water. The overcast just to the south & east wasn’t looking at all promising, but there was a good bit of blue sky just above Longs, so I dared to hope that state of affairs would continue for a while. Of course, it lasted just until I reached Chasm Lake and then the hammer dropped.

Anyway, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. On the way back the Chasm Lake Spur Trail, there were a couple of guys laden with climbing gear ahead of me, and three college-age kids a short distance behind me. When I got up to the patrol cabin at the southwestern edge of Chasm Meadows I saw the two guys had cut off to the left headed for some climbing destination, BUT I figured that if I stalled there by the cabin and let the college kids pass me, I could get a shot of them by the “CHASM LAKE” trail sign that points up the rock wall & ledges you have to negotiate to reach the lake. So that’s what I did. Then I followed them as they started up the broken cliffs. About halfway up, they stopped, and I could tell from their conversation something was wrong, so I asked, “Where is it you guys are heading?” And they said, “Is this the way up to the Keyhole?”

Oh, man… I wish you could’ve seen their faces when I told them they’d taken a wrong turn at Chasm Junction. (At Chasm Junction, you go left for Chasm Lake or right for Longs Peak via the Keyhole Route.) I felt so badly for them. They started back down at that point (I think they were going to backtrack to Chasm Junction and then still try for the summit) and I continued on up to the lake.



By the time I reached the lake, it was starting to sprinkle and visibility was deteriorating rapidly. It was at this point that I met three more college-age kids, this time two Japanese guys and a girl. They stopped me and asked me if I knew how they could get up The Loft Route. They were in sneakers and looked like they were going out to a ball game rather than ready to hike & climb up to The Loft, so I asked them a few questions and found out “a friend” had told them to go up The Loft Route rather than the Keyhole Route. I quickly realized they were pretty clueless as far as what they were getting into, and so—because of their inexperience & because of the weather by that time— I strongly discouraged them from trying The Loft or even heading up that day via the Keyhole. I don’t know whether they took my advice or not. I have a feeling they were still going to try the Keyhole.

Soooo… after they left, I pretty much had the lake all to myself. In the rain. And the swirling fog & mist & clouds. To be honest, conditions were so miserable I could hardly enjoy the stupendous view. I had a really really tough time trying to keep the lens wiped off enough to snap even a few shots. Fun. After probably ten minutes of that, I was more than ready to start back down. So I did.

I wouldn’t mind doing this hike again, in better weather, setting out from the trailhead to be up at the lake at sunrise to hopefully catch some nice alpenglow on Longs Peak’s impressive East Face… maybe with the color reflected in the (perfectly calm) water of the lake? Hey, a guy can wish.



Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. ~Rich