Longs Peak + Mount Meeker:16.52 miles round trip
6385 feet vertical gain
12 hours 4 minutes
110 ounces of water
1 tiny heel blister
This is more of a pictorial rather than a full description of the hike. Dogs are only allowed leashed at campsites in Rocky Mountain National Park, they are forbidden on the trails. Still, some people seem to manage getting their dogs to the summit or they're just lying about it.
All of the regulars in our hiking group had no intention of ever taking up this route. I doubt they would appreciate being taken on the
standard route either. The approach to the actual climb takes hours and wears you out with its never ending incline.
Having spent the summer with this hike in the back of my mind, I did everything I could to maximize distance and vertical gain on every trip. By late August I was bummed that Longs would probably have to wait another year. Then I got word that Danielle and her guy had just done some good class 3 hiking and had a ton of fun doing it. That got me thinking, and texting. We discussed the specifics on the route I was hoping to do and it was decided to hike on a Friday to avoid the masses. Two weeks later, I was waking up at 11:00pm on a Thursday to get ready and drive the hour up to the Longs Peak trailhead. My plan was to get there and sleep in the van waiting for them to show up at 2:00-2:30am. I knew they were going to be a little later because the Loft couloir was reportedly starting to ice up at night, and we wanted the sun to warm the granite a little before ascending.
Shifting and squirming from excitement, I jumped out of the van at 2:30am and started getting my gear straight. The parking lot became very familiar as I paced around in the 30 degree temps just waiting. I decided to wait out the rest of the time in the van. Then around 3:20am an Element pulled up next to me and it was finally time.
We took a quick moment to sign in at the register indicating that we intended to climb the Loft. There must have been 30-40 names already on the page above our names that day. Every single one said, "Keyhole". Perfect. Brett's batteries were toast on his lamp, so I somewhat led the way shining my light wide enough to give us all sight. We cruised. The trail junction is typically near two hours form the start and we got there just ten minutes over an hour. Then our pace caught up with us as we followed the trail towards Chasm Lake and Peacock Pool. With so much wildlife and human presence in the area we put on our helmets when the sides of trail exceeded a 45° angle. Dawn was barely peeking up over the horizon and the bottom of the couloir looked longer than we thought. So we kept moving up the gully and watching the sun rise as we went...
When the sun finally broke the horizon, the colors were spectacular. For a few moments this was the only mountain catching the day's first light. Killer...
The rock was still bitterly cold and spots had perfectly clear verglass running down the face. But the scrambling was EPIC! We were all having a complete blast on that section...
Almost at the top of the Loft couloir looking east towards Loveland...
The dark strips on the left there, solid clear ice...
When we hit the exit to the Loft itself, we decided Mount Meeker wasn't too far. Instead of gaining the flat Loft area, we just continued up the huge talus towards the summit...
This turned out to be a very quick scramble, and before long I was on the most exposed summit I've ever been on. So exposed in fact, that I kinda crawled up on the summit block and got right the *F* back off...
The views from Meeker were surreal. I've never seen the Indian Peaks (or any of the Front Range peaks for that matter) from that perspective...
The trail from Meeker was much worse than the rocks we took to the top. It was all loose dirt and shoe filling pebbles with WAY too many switchbacks. Getting back to the flat Loft area gave us the misleading view of Longs. Looks like you can just head straight up, but there's a nasty couple hundred foot notch cut into the mountain before the summit...
Looking northeast...
This is where the fun really begins. The drop from the Loft towards Keplinger's couloir gives many people trouble. Most find their own way down and around the massive cliffs. We all happened to do our homework beforehand and had almost zero problem finding the correct Clark's Arrow route. Dropping in...
I still haven't bothered to learn the history behind Clark's Arrow. All I know is its about 80-90 years old and designates the best way across that section. It's so faded that you don't even see it as you go by, it comes into view once you've gone a few yards past. Still hard to see...
This is definitely a climb, not a hike...
Check me out...
Approaching the junction with the standard route...
SUMMIT!!! This one left me speechless. All I could do was thank Brett and Danielle immensely for helping me conquer this one. Without them I would have never got there. I see this mountain every day and from almost every summit. It literally looms from every angle on the Front Range. And now it's done...
Meeker...
The gully between the foreground and background cliff bands was the way we came up...
Parkview Mountain...
Medicine Bow Mountains to the north. Cameron Peak is the highest of the three on the right...
We didn't hang around too long. The knowledge of what was still ahead nagged us to hurry up and begin the descent. The standard route is the easiest way off this thing. This is the homestretch, and it's just about how it looks...
The Palisades. We came around the bottom of these and followed the gully (Keplinger's) up to the Homestretch...
The Narrows. Much easier than it looks...
The Trough. I hated this section. It went on and on and on and on...
Knights Couloir. Can you see the chess piece looking rock that gives it the name? I might be talked into that route one day. Only one low class 5 move along the way and none of the crowds...
I can't remember which hill that is over there...
Exiting the Keyhole. The shelter signals the end of exposure, and the beginning of what has to be the most torturous stretch on any Colorado mountain...
The Boulderfield. It's car sized rock hopping for well over an hour. The worst thing I have ever experienced while hiking. The grassy ridge dropping down to Granite Pass stays out of reach forever...
The Keyhole...
Ptarmigan...
Back at Chasm junction and looking at the Loft Couloir with the snow patch at the top. That was fun...
I found out how slow the dogs make me while hiking. But I still had a bit of an empty feeling not sharing the summit with at least the stupid Husky. Anyone hoping to do this in the future with me had better get in gear and plan it now (Steino). This was no walk in the park and we ended up hitting a couple of class 5 moves through areas with ice and obstructions. I now have a better idea of what my abilities are and the entire 54 fourteener list seems within grasp. I just need to hammer out the super hard mountains when the dogs can no longer hike. Until then, I plan on doing one of these a summer. Fun stuff.
and as far as the dogs slowing you down i think mine speed me up and wish i could hike slower! 
I'd be SO chicken at the top... I'd want to get up there, but something about it would make me petrified, and I don't have a heights thing, so no worries Jenn! I think it's more the- "Wow, a strong breeze could kill me" feeling!