FAIRCHILD MOUNTAIN
(13,502)August 28-29, 2017
By Tim Briese
19.9 miles, 5000 elevation gain (including backpack)
The plan was to backpack to Lawn Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park and climb Fairchild Mountain, Hagues Peak, and Mummy Mountain. Availability for backcountry permits for the only two campsites at Lawn Lake was very limited but Brian managed to secure a permit for us several months before. We picked up our permit at the national park backcountry office in the morning and rented the required bear canisters at a nearby outfitter in Estes Park.
i hadn't used a bear canister before. it strapped nicely onto my pack.
We drove to the Lawn Lake Trailhead in the park and were fortunate to find a parking space available at this very popular trailhead. At 1045 am we headed up the excellent Lawn Lake Trail. After a long series of initial switchbacks the nice trail gradually climbed up the Roaring River Valley for several miles.
a view of the roaring river along the trail, with longs peak in the background
We made excellent time on the good trail and reached Lawn Lake at 250, having climbed 2400 in 6.6 miles from the trailhead in just over four hours.
lawn lake, with the saddle beyond between hagues, at the right, and fairchild, at the left.
We found one of the fine designated campsites up in the woods above the north side of the lake. That afternoon we lounged around by the scenic lake which lies at about 11,000 and filtered water. In the evening we were visited by deer in our campsite. We put food and scented items in the bear canisters and set them about 100 feet away from our camp.
our campsite
one of our tame visitors
dusk at camp
I slept poorly that night but nevertheless we rose early in the chilly morning and left camp at 625 am and embarked on our climb.
sunrise on fairchild
We made good time up the excellent trail to the 12,400 saddle between Fairchild and Hagues, arriving there at 815.
on the trail up to the saddle, at the upper right
From the saddle we headed up a grassy slope on the western side of the broad slope up toward Fairchild.
we stayed on grass to the right then angled left above the snow to the summit
a view looking back at the saddle and hagues
When the grass gave out we reached a vast slope of large, blocky talus which made the climb of the final 400 feet of gain up to the summit more difficult than expected.
on the rough talus slope
We reached the top at 930 and sat around for half an hour resting and gazing about at the views.
brian on the summit, with Ypsilon Mountain behind him
hagues peak is at the left and mummy mountain is to the right
longs peak
I was feeling quite spent at this point. North Arapaho had taken quite a bit out of me two days before, and a poor night of sleep was taking its toll. Also, I am reluctantly facing the fact that age is catching up with me, especially on long outings like this one. As we gazed over at Hagues, Brian spoke up and voiced just what I was thinking. Maybe we should just skip Hagues and Mummy and pack out today. With instant relief I agreed and thats what we did. We left the summit at 10 and hiked back down to the saddle in an hour and returned to camp at 1220. An hour later we left camp and made a long grueling march back down to the trailhead in just over three hours, motivated by the thought of a comfortable bed and nice meal in Estes Park that night.
a mother bear and her cubs we saw while driving out of rocky mountain national park
