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Chasm Lake
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Tucked beneath the iconic, towering cliff walls of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, lies the sparkling Chasm Lake. Along the way, you get sprawling views, an emerald tarn, and a splendid waterfall.
Starting off at the Longs Peak Ranger Station, we set foot on the trail and began climbing. The beginning of the trail is not super exciting as it slogs up through the lodgepole pine forest, switchbacking to gain elevation. The lovely Alpine Brook chatters away and joins up alongside the trail occasionally. A few flowers such as Fireweed were still blooming while the Mountain Ash had gone to berries.
We passed a junction, gained more elevation, then hopped over Larkspur Creek, followed by a crossing over Alpine Brook. After a bit more climbing, the forest began to rapidly change, going from the lodgepole pine forest to subalpine fir. While there were windows through the trees of Longs Peak and Mt. Lady Washington, the views began opening up in earnest.
To the east, we could make out Twin Sisters Peaks, while to the north, Estes Cone. The real gem, however, was the views up to the west to Mt. Meeker, Longs Peak, Mt. Lady Washington, and all of the other summits, crags, features, slides, passes, etc… and that’s where we were heading!
Before we got to the more barren areas, we worked our way up along Mills Moraine. The wet meadow that’s the source of Alpine Brook has a small pond and loads of shrubs such as willows that are great habitat for birds which were still hanging around like the White-crowned Sparrow. A hard push out of the bowl housing the meadow brought us to a trail junction with a hitching post.
The trail to the right works its way up Granite Pass and eventually the Keyhole, which his the traditional route up Longs Peak. We, however, were taking a left to drop down into the Roaring Creek drainage and up to Chasm Lake.
As we descended into the drainage, a glittering, emerald tarn called Peacock Pool sparkled below us. Further dropping into the drainage and wrapping around a bit gave us our first glimpse of Columbine Falls which slid over the granite before dropping in a series of shelves before tumbling into the pool.
The trail to Chasm Lake was visible as it went right above the waterfall, enabling us to get a fun view of it from the top. Just above it, a lovely, moss cascade dropped from the lake, crossing the trail before descending as the waterfall. We continued on the shelf above the falls, passing a couple interesting outhouses made from the surrounding rocks. They processed waste in ways that were more eco-friendly in this sensitive environment. There was also a cool shelter cabin made of rock as well.
We said goodbye to a Yellow-bellied Marmot below and started off on the “route” section up to Chasm Lake. American Pikas “eeeeped” at us as we followed the loose “trail” up solid slabs of granite with cairns roughly guiding the way. After the short, steep climb, our senses were overwhelmed with the scale of the scene.
The sheer cliff face of Longs Peak towered 2,400ft above the clear lake. Massive boulders lie scattered about everywhere. Huge shoulders and ridges came off the mountains giving dimension and scale. We spied a couple climbers on the huge wall looking like gnats as they worked up a fissure.
It’s a bit of effort to get to the lake, so there were only a couple of other people hanging around. We ate our lunch and soaked in the splendor before turning around and heading back down.
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