You know those hikes that just take your breath away and you just never want them to end? That’s what this was. I’d been seeing pictures of  Chasm Lake for years and years, and it had been on my list of fall hikes forever. It seems like every fall would go by without ever actually getting out there. This year, though, I put my foot down and told Matt we were going – we were ACTUALLY in town and the fall colors seemed extra spectacular. As I just said, it was SO incredible.

We’d figured out that as long as we got arrived by 9:00 am at the Longs Peak trailhead, we didn’t need reservations. After getting up at a not-unreasonable hour, we started the drive. We pulled into the parking lot at something like 8:57… Just in time! We grabbed our stuff, collected our (20 million) cameras, threw our hydration packs on our backs, went to the bathroom, and up we went.

The trail at first was nice and wooded, with beautiful little streams flowing next to it. As we got higher, the trees thinned out and we got to experience fall in all its glory in the high country.

Eventually, we made it to the alpine tundra, and here the views became truly spectacular.  Oh. My. GOD. WOW. Talk about views for DAYS. Mountains as far as the eye could see, and before them, fields and fields of spectacular scrub brush and bushes in every shade of red, yellow, and orange, combined with the green from what few trees actually grew up there… SPECTACULAR. 

After a bit (but not near long enough!) of this, the trail went down a bit by a waterfall… Then we got to one final uphill sorta-scramble, and when we got to the top of it, we were there! It was BEAUTIFUL! There’s something about an alpine lake that you have to climb up a bit to that’s surrounded by a beautiful cirque of scraggy rock… SO pretty.

We hung out there for a while, had some snacks… I almost fell in trying to get a time lapse! Oops. Then it was time to head back down the hill.

After an uneventful hike down, we started home and decided to stop at MainStage Brewing Company in Lyons, a new-to-us place that had a super cute outdoor space to hang out in. The beer was refreshing, and the food was delicious. A perfect end to a great day!

Want more? Here’s the video: