This hike is well-known to us, but it's always different. This year, the weather was much warmer than usual, and instead of being frosty at the start, we were fine in just t-shirts. The trail, the first part of which also shares the route to the top of Longs Peak, was unusually free of other hikers, providing much more solitude than we sometimes find. And the mountains held much more snow than we've ever seen at this time of year, creating a unique hike and a very cool environment at the lake.
When we planned it, I wasn't so sure about doing it. For a number of reasons, I'm in a lot worse shape to do this thing than I've been in in years past. The biggest physical issue is the torn meniscus in my knee, and the ensuing layoff from running has apparently shrunk my lungs, especially at this altitude.
But I like having the chance to spend a few hours alone with my wife, talking about whatever we come up with, so I'm willing to give it a try. However disappointing it would be to me to turn around, I know she'll understand. I'm generally pretty quiet, but she's one of those people who can draw me out, and make me want to talk, so we have a lot of fun doing it.
We talk about a lot of things, including our history of coming to this place since she discovered it in 2003. It's a nice day, no one around, and as hard as it is, it's feeling kind of easy. We get to Chasm Junction, where you can either go to Longs Peak or to Chasm, and we keep going without stopping. This is the part it should get briefly easy - a slightly downhill (but exposed) trail to Chasm Meadows, before you climb the boulder wall to get to the lake. This year we encounter a snowfield, a remnant of all the snow that fell this year, and something new to us.
There are steps chopped into parts of the snow, but if you fall, it's going to be a pretty rough ending. We didn't bring spikes or crampons, so we plan to take care, but it's our first time across. There has been a tremendous amount of snowfall in the West this year, so there are more of these stories going around, and we have no desire to become one of them. Mandy, although nervous, listened to her inner voice and decided she could do it.
We take our time to get across, but enjoy the rush of doing so, and head to the lake. Once we arrive, we find ourselves completely alone. The lake is high with snowmelt, and has a few large floating icebergs in it. The first or second year we were here, a local cross country team ran up here and jumped into the lake. It was freezing cold then, but there was no ice in it.
We find the rock we were engaged and married on, and due to questionable clouds above, spend only a few minutes having lunch and reminiscing. After we got back, we headed to Ed's Cantina for a well-earned margarita and some Mexican food. Despite being out of shape, we got up and down quicker than we ever have.
