Meeker and Longs

Despite the afternoon showers that have been building earlier and earlier, we were rewarded with a suprisingly clear day. Starting out on the trail around 3am, we could see the lights of Boulder and Denver off on the plains as the bright stars lit up the night. Orange streaks painted the horizon as we arrived at Chasm Meadows for a quick breakfast stop.

From Chasm Meadows we hiked up toward the Loft while the alpenglow lit the sides of the mountains above us. A fleeting moment and then the sunlight hit us, and the orange faded from the rocks.

Tom led us up the rocks and the ramps that weave across the slabs at the top of the Loft.

One of our narrow ramps on the way up. When we made the hairpin turn at the top of this ramp, we chose to climb a few rocks on the right to avoid the exposure on the left. Morgan demonstrated the now patented barrel roll technique at the top of the rocks when lack of flexibility in her legs and pants left her unable to get that right leg fully extended.

First stop Meeker. Keith, Morgan, Brittany and me. Tom was taking the photo. Not a lot of room to set up the tripod, and Muneca as trapped inside my backpack a few hundred feet below.

 Longs looked so close from Meeker. Unfortunately this nice little tundra ramp has a 200' notch at the end of it, making it impossible to traverse. Clarks Arrow route would take us back down to The Loft and descending off to our left, to climb up through the top of Keplinger's couloir.

 After descending some "interesting" little rock gullies, we came around the side of the Palisades. Brittany was craning her neck, trying to take it all in.

And then I looked up. A massive boulder was lodged in between the slabs of rock that make up the Palisades. This was directly overhead. We were hoping that no geologic events were about to take place. 

We climbed up past the Palisades and the top of Keplinger's couloir, eventually taking a small ramp on our left that would connect us to the Homestretch. After seeing only one person since 6am, the hikers were collected on the cracks of Homestretch leading up to Longs.

Our group on Longs - Keith, Tom, me with Muneca, Brittany and Morgan.

Muneca was joined by friends on the top of Longs Peak. The Matrushkas made their debut at 12,259 feet. In the foreground is the tube that holds the register, which is common on many of the peaks over 13,000 feet.

Coming down from Longs Peak via the Keyhole route, we eased our way along the Narrows. After all the other rock we had done, this seemed pretty tame.

From the Trough, we had breathtaking views of Glacier Gorge. Peaks arise from every angle. Lakes are dotted in the valley and along many of the hanging shelves.

After taking a short break in the Agnes Vaille shelter next to the Keyhole, we started our long hike back to the trailhead. Meeker stood out on our right at one point, a reminder of where we had been about 8 hours earlier.

A certain hikemaster was very happy to get her boots off after alomost 16 hours on the trail. And, no, those are not my feet.