This past weekend a friend of mine was visiting from Houston and we decided to go hike up to the Chasm Lake. Earlier we had plans to hike up the Longs Peak but we just didn’t have the time. Bad planning on our part.
The hike is about 8.4 miles all the way around, the trail head is about at 9,400 feet and the lake is located at 11,760 feet, so a 2,360 feet gain. We started around 10:30 a.m. and we were back by 3:30 p.m. so it took us about 5 hours to do the whole thing.
After an hour hike the tree line vanishes, the clouds are beneath you and wind starts to pick up. Up to this point there were patches of ice, frozen from the previous weekend snow fall but nothing serious. In other words, the trail is definitely strenuous but not technical. I am sure if I am to come back sometime around Thanks Giving, I would need my snow shoes.
The trail is very well marked and you often run across signs that caution not to go off the trail. Its not because its dangerous for you to go off the trail but for the fragile plantation of the range.
A few times the trail markers would go missing but the footsteps in the snow would lead us in the right direction.
The trail part ways from the Longs Peak trail probably 2 hour into the hike and the view starts to become stunning. With Meeker peak on one side and Longs Peak on the other the trail becomes a narrow walkway.
Finally you get to a ridge with a steep climb and as you over come it, you see the Chasm, which for us was like a frozen crystal. It was a bit too windy to stay up there for long.
The hike down wasn’t so bad, I wouldn’t be off if I say it took us about two and a quarter hours to get down. We still saw a group of people going up while we were coming down. I hope they were not planning to do the round trip to Chasm because there was no way they could have made it down before sun set. They didn’t seem like the kind who would spend the night up there, which by the way you can.
Next time we are going all the way up to the Longs Peak. No excuses!