I didn’t sleep so well last night, but that’s to be expected. I never sleep well on the first night out.
Tonight I will look for a site that’s not as hard, maybe on a bed of pine needles.
Rick was the first one up this morning, followed by Jonathan and Chris.
Lamarr, Blake, and I woke up about an hour later, which would be around 8am.
After a breakfast of oatmeal, granola bars and coffee, we decided to do a day hike up to Mill Moraine Pass and then go down to Chasm Lake. However, once we got up to the pass, we decided to head back to camp for lunch and then hike back up with our packs since it was also the route to the Boulder Field.
It was tough enough with just the weight of a camera. Climbing it again with a 45lb backpack will be brutal. Once we get to the pass, we’ll leave our packs there and head down to the lake, then back up to the pass, grab the packs again and make our way up to the Boulder Field.
There are tons of mosquitoes here, but they are mostly leaving me alone.
On our way up to the Boulder Field.
10:46pm
I am in my tent now, about to go to sleep. I wanted to write one more time about the day.
We made it to the Boulder Field which was about 3.5-4 miles from the previous camp site. It is definitely colder here, probably high 30s right now, and we expect below freezing temps by morning. The elevation is 12,700’, I think.
Long’s Peak looms over us.
The snow covered peak is beautiful and majestic and even a little forbidding…
After we had set up camp, we saw a group of guys coming down from the “Keyhole” pass. After a while, I walked over to their camp and asked if they were able to make the summit. They had indeed made it, but said it was treacherous and difficult..
Good.
One of the younger ones is from Houston. They looked pretty tired.
Actually, I was a little surprised that they had made it. Out of a dozen people we passed on the way up, only two had summited and they looked like serious mountain climbers.
These guys I’m with are crazy. I’m having SUCH a great time!
Hopefully, there will be many more trips in the days to come.
We saw a herd of elk today and I got a few nice shots. I’m going nuts with my camera, tons of photos coming.
Tomorrow, we summit Long’s Peak
Good Night
KoP
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