Estes Cone

The rocky summit of Estes Cone with Longs Peak

While at the visitor center, I asked the ranger where a good spot would be for an early morning hike.  She recommended the Two Sisters.  On the map it looked like the views of Longs Peak would be great.  As I started to drive my car to the trailhead, I saw that the road was closed.  Instead of walking the two miles to the trail, I chose instead to do Estes Cone.

A shorter hike, but it also looked it would be a great morning hike with views of Longs Peak.  It happened to be a great choice.  It snowed a bit overnight and I started out in the cold.  I wore a lot of heavy clothing.  Of course, since it's Colorado, I would not need all of this for long.  The summit, less than two hours later was warmer (despite the heavy winds) than the trailhead.

From Estes Park.  Not a bad spot to go shopping.

The walk started at Lily Lake.  This is a great spot that provides some excellent views of Estes Cone and Longs Peak.  Also, one can see the town of Estes Park.  The ground had a slight amount of snow powder which would be gone quickly.  It did not take long for the trail to ascend and for my body to overheat.

Snow covered peaks from Lily Lake

Snow covered peaks in the clouds

Longs Peak

Estes Cone

Longs Peak

Lily Lake

After about a half hour of hiking, Longs Peak came into view.  It looked quite impressive from this point of view.  The sides are quite steep from this vantage point.  I really regret not getting to Colorado earlier so I could have tackled this bad boy.  It would have been the first "real" mountain I would have ascended.  Today, there is just too much ice to make any chance at an ascent reasonable.

Much needed cairns

Eventually, I reached the spur trail to Estes Cone.  It's a good thing there were plenty of cairns, otherwise the trail would have been quite difficult to follow.  It was quite steep and I made it to the rocky summit after some questionable route finding.  Some scrambling was necessary.

The views here were outstanding.  Longs Peak was close by and in view.  The Two Sisters were now in view to the east.  Beyond them, you can see the plains spread out across the horizon.  Lily Lake  and Estes Park could be seen to the north.  To the west, a bunch of snow covered peaks could be seen.  I'm not certain what peaks they are and I hate it when that happens.

Winter has arrived in the mountains

Longs Peak from the trail

Estes Park

Two Sisters

Longs

Lily Lake

The views west

Some clouds rolling in

On my way down I made a major blunder.  I missed the turn for the trail and instead took the trail to the trailhead for Longs Peak.  I'm not sure how I did this since I consciously made an effort to not miss the trail.  I did anyway.  Worse yet, I ended up leaving the wrong trail to horse trails that entered private land.  It wasn't until I reached a cabin that I realized I wasn't on the correct trail.  I eventually pulled out the map to figure out what I did.  Unreal.

While descending, I thought about how much I really want to climb Longs Peak.  I created my top 5 list of mountains I would like to summit with Longs Peak definitely on it:

1. Mt Ranier/ Mt Hood (If I ascend one, the other is less interesting to do).
2. Kilimanjaro (The high point of Africa surrounded by awesome wildlife)
3. Longs Peak (A good scramble, with exposure, at altitude.  Why not?)
4. Hua Shan (When I first read about this peak I thought, "Angel's Landing on steroids.").  
5. Ben Nevis (Scotland just looks like an awesome place to hike).