Charmy decided that she wanted to come along, which I am greatful she did. A cold, dark morning hike is always better spent with some company. 2:00 am rolls around and my phone starts buzzing. Time to get up so I roll over and start blowing in my wife's ear to break her restful slumber. I should have been kicked for that, I know I would have kicked for that.
We roll out of sack, let the dogs out to pee, grab our gear and jump in the truck for the two hour drive to the trail head. It is snowing a little during the drive but I figure whatever clouds there are will break and give us a great shot of Long's from Chasm Lake.
We're right on time and start hiking at 4:30, which will give us 2 hours to get to Chasm Lake. At about 5:30 we pass some guys that are coming down. They let us know that the wind is howling and there are white out conditions at timberline. Not to worry, the wind will stop and the clouds will part and I will get my photo! We keep going, onward and upward.
So, they were right. The wind is gusting up to 60 mph and visibility is 300 feet, at best. We end up stopping just below the lake because we are not prepared for this weather. We wait 30 minutes to see if things will clear. They don't, so we turn tail and run, slowly so we don't kill ourselves. As we are fleeing the sting of the spindrift ,a bit of sun peaks over the horizon, so we hurriedly scramble and get the tripod set up and the camera and filters out. We have enough time to take 5 or 6 shots...and this is what we got.
Not really what I was looking for, but not all together bad. We'll have to give it another go some other time. Maybe in April or May!
Sunrise en-route to Long's Peak
Originally uploaded by joneiche
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