Backpacking Rocky Mountain National Park

by Dave on August 18, 2006

Three friends and I departed Iowa for a long-overdue backpacking trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The trip consisted of a week long venture in the park, concluded by a 311 concert at Red Rocks in Morrison. We departed an unexperienced group, hauling (far) too much gear, and returned hardened mountain men (mostly.)

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Our first day we departed from Glacier Basin campground and headed south along Storm Pass trail and summited Estes Cone mid-afternoon.

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It was time for the afternoon thunderstorms, and we were in the wrong place to be during a thunderstorm, so we headed out.

That night we camped out at Goblin Forest, about 1 mile up Longs’s Peak Trail.

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And set up our bear bag.

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In the morning, we ate a quick oatmeal breakfast and by 3:00 a.m. we headed out to Chasm Lake, in hopes of a bueatiful sunrise.

It Wasn’t.

So we took a nap.

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We stopped to put on sunscreen.

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And took some pictures.

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We broke our waterfilter.

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But we had a backup.

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We made it to Boulder Field.

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The next morning Clark, Ben, and I got up and headed for the summit.

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See “Summiting Long’s Peak” for a continuation of this illustrated story.

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