Longs Peak

I led a group of complete camping novices. We stayed at Goblins Tues night and did a night hike up to Columbine Falls, photographing a ton of elk and returning around midnight to our campsites by moonlight. We broke camp and returned to the backcountry permit office. We hoped that another group wouldn't pick up their backcountry permit for Boulder Field for Wed night and that's exactly what happened. Since we had started at the Longs Peak trailhead the day before, we opted for a different trail, starting at the Glacier Gorge trailhead. Fantastic scenery, more waterfalls, less travelled...just amazing. It was definitely worth the extra miles to head up these switchbacks before meeting up with the regular crowd at Granite Pass. It drizzled almost the entire time and I'm glad everyone followed directions and ziplocked all their clothing they brought up. And they had their sleeping bags inside two layers of trashbags before hooking them on their frames...ahh dry sleeping bags. We got there late evening and had to cross boulder field after dark. Finding the rock piles to indicate we were on the path was challenging. We followed directions and left early in the morning to get off before the storms. We heard when we were in Allenspark that sadly a man and his family did not listen -- he was struck by lightning and died. Be smart. I'm really proud of my high school group: Amy Cress, John Collins, Pat Feders, Tyler Holtzheimer, Travis Barlow, & Andy Enselein. You guys rock!