I could say our hike began with drinks and an early dinner on the front porch of the Stanley Hotel the night before the hike.

Or it began on the hike up from the Longs Peak Trail Head to our Goblins Forrest camp site.

Or I could say it began with me struggling to set up my tent after not having camped out in a few years.

But really it began later that night, early the next morning, waking at 3am for coffee and on the trail by 4am.

Our agenda was to hike to the Keyhole, part of the approach to Longs Peak, then turn back and hike up to Chasm Lake. Only about 12 miles in all, but it’s slow going, especially through the massive Boulder Field section leading up to the Keyhole.

The sun eventually rose, and we were able to pocket our headlamps a little before 6am. Two hours had passed before we’d entered into the Boulder Field. That’s a view below of the diamond face on the east side of Longs Peak, with our keyhole destination near that dip right of the peak. It would take another two hours to reach it.

It had been 11 years since I last hiked up to the summit of Longs Peak. I was happy we were not hiking to the summit today, it’s a scary climb with lots of exposure when your legs are trembling from fatigue. And Chasm Lake had been on my list since I’d been here the last time. How did 11 years go by so quickly? And this was my first camping in 3 years. Time can sneak up on you.

We made it to the Keyhole by 8am and rested there, enjoying the views on both the east and west sides for a good half hour.

Hiking down, if you can call it hiking through the Boulder Field when you’re actually leaping from rock to rock, was harder than hiking up. Going downhill would seem easier but not when your legs are fatigued and the downhill boulder-hopping last forever. Your heart and lungs feel the climb, your legs feel the descent.

As impressive as the views from the Keyhole were, Chasm Lake is a mountain lake you have to experience. The diamond face of Longs Peak rises from the talus and water to form the most impressive backdrop you could ever imagine. I set a photo of it as my new laptop screen background.

After a 12-mile, 10 hour day of hiking, we ended the trip with another round of drinks at yet another porch for the poetic symmetry of it, this time at Oscar Blues in Lyons.