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Two years ago, I went up to the Saddle above Lawn Lake but, because I was feeling out of condition, I chose to climb Fairchild Mountain over Hagues Peak: Hagues looked harder. This year (September 8th, 2018), I was hoping to summit both Hagues and Mummy Mountain in a loop traverse, killing two peaks in one ascent. I left the Lawn Lake Trailhead at 3:48 AM and was up at this trail sign three hours later, supposedly 5.7 miles up the trail and only .6 miles from Lawn Lake, at 6:45 AM.
45 minutes after passing the trail sign, I was near the NW end of Lawn Lake when I came up on this little chipmunk, hoping for a handout I think. I’ve never had a good chipmunk shot for this site, so I stopped to take a few. I was still in early morning low light conditions though, which made any movement hard to deal with; so, I thought I would try a couple shots with the flash on: scary evil eyes!
Above timberline now, at 7:48 AM, I took a shot of Hagues Peak as it came into the sun. My hands, wearing only knit gloves, were half numb, and I had just slipped on an iced log passing through timberline, so I knew it was at least as low as 32° F. I really wanted to be up in that sun!
Finally in the sun, at 8:11 AM, this view to the south of Crystal Lakes below the NE face of Fairchild Mountain was cool enough to stop for a few photos. These lakes are a beautiful hiking destination: worth the extra mile or so hike up from Lawn Lake if you have the time.
The high altitude brush and tundra were already turning colors, and the early morning sun rays really gave them a florescent quality. There were small birds flying in and around the brush, but after five minutes of trying get a picture of one, I gave up and continued going up.
I was at the Saddle going on 9:15 AM and took my first good break, eating a sport bar and checking out the south ridge and SE slopes of Hagues Peak. I had read somewhere that this ascent could be done at class 2+, but I had my doubts. I started up at 9:30 working right to avoid the rougher ground near the ridge, and then mostly straight up for at least the next hour.
Taking this shot at 10:09 AM, the easier, but steep, lower slope hiking was quickly turning into rock and boulder hopping. As I got higher, I had to pick my route carefully to keep the technical rating below class 3. I knew that somewhere I should be working across to the NE ridge to avoid the more technical climbing, but the route wasn’t as obvious as I would have liked, and I eventually got fed up with the time-consuming traverse route-finding and turned up straight toward the summit, hoping not to get caught in anything harder than class 4.
I pulled up onto the summit at about 11:30 AM and took this shot of the summit Bureau of Reclamation mark since I couldn’t find a summit register. It had taken two hours to summit from the Saddle which was only 6 tenths of a mile distance: not the performance I was hoping for. I did enjoy the climbing on the final run, though I would say some of it was well into class 4 but on fairly stable rock at least. When I first considered climbing Hagues, I planned on some class 4 climbing, but when I read about the class 2+ possibility, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if I could actually keep the rating at that level. I think it’s possible, but don’t expect an obvious trail.
Looking south, I took a picture of Fairchild Mountain with the summit of Ypsilon Mountain barely visible behind in the distance. On Fairchild two years earlier, from the Saddle I had summitted 20 minutes sooner than I had on Hagues today, even though it’s roughly a half mile further. The more difficult route finding near the summit is what I think took up the extra time.
Looking down at the bottom of Fairchild’s NE face, I had a great view of Chrystal Lakes. I would like to get back there again and do the complete hike around them, which we did not do when Suzy and I were there in 2013.
The view of Lawn Lake was cool! It was almost like being right above it. I had a hard time believing it took me about 3 hours and 45 minutes to get here from there.
Looking over at Mummy Mountain, I was starting to wonder if I was going to have time to bag it too. The ridge over to it looked OK, but I had to start making better time than I had up to this point. While the smoke from forest fires burning in the state was better than it had been a few weeks ago, you can still see a lot of haze in this shot.
This shot to the northeast shows the start of the ridge connecting Hagues to Mummy Mountain with the three lumps I would need to skirt along the way. Looking at this picture now, I think I can see the final section of the class 2+ traverse across to the ridge, but at the time I was coming across, I couldn’t see it.
Also on the summit, I assume this is weather monitoring equipment. When I first pulled up
near the summit, but still
20 or 30 yards
to the south, I thought this was a summit hut. With no obvious references, size can be deceiving at times above timberline.
Update: On September 15th, 2022, I received an email, from someone
looking over this page, who corrected me with the following info.
"This is actually a radio relay station for park rangers, fire and search & rescue operations. If you have a police scanner you can listen in on 172.400 MHz."
Great info! I'll have to try this.
As I started the ridge traverse towards Mummy Mountain, I noticed Rowe Glacier on the north side of Hagues Peak. It’s not much of a glacier any more though.
Seeing Rowe Glacier made me realize that the area northeast of Hagues is where Suzy and I hiked into Lost Lake for four days back in 2013. On our 2nd day, we hiked up to Lake Dunraven, Whiskey Lake, and Scotch Lake, hoping to get to Rowe Glacier, but we didn’t get passed Scotch Lake. So, this was my first time seeing the "glacier". The small lake visible in this shot is probably Scotch.
Somewhere around 12:30, I was skirting the first of the three lumps along the ridge to Mummy Mountain. It was becoming obvious that if I continued over Mummy, I wouldn’t be back at the trailhead before dark. The ridge involved more rock and boulder hopping than I expected, and I was sure there was a lot more on the other side of Mummy. Plus, my worn-out hiking shoes, which I should have replaced last year, weren’t helping. My feet were killing me! If I was going to bail, now was a good time; so, I decided to head down the south slopes of the ridge and plan Mummy Mountain for another time. As I headed down, 12:58 PM now, I got a good shot of the broken up east side of Hagues Peak. Somewhere in the center of the upper face is where I turned up and made my run for the summit.
I was off Hagues and passing down through timberline at 2:30 PM. Near the NW end of Lawn Lake, I stopped for a second to enjoy the shade when I turned toward the lake and saw this doe grazing about 10 yards away. After taking the picture, I started back down the trail when another hiker came stomping up behind me. Thinking that the deer was attacking, which they have been known to do, I practically jump right out of my shoes. He had not even seen the deer as he passed it, but with the noise he was making, I wasn’t surprised.
An hour further down the trail, I stopped for one more distant shot of Hagues Peak from a small break in the trees. This was another one of my underestimated projects. I thought that once Hagues was out of the way, it would be an easy dash over to Mummy Mountain and down the other side. Some people never learn.
It was 3:47 PM when I walked up on another chipmunk, one eating a Colorado Blue Spruce pinecone, I think. Aching from the hips down, any excuse for a couple minutes break was great, so I got another picture.
I was back at the trailhead at 6:10 PM, after 14 hours and 22 minutes. My GPS showed the total distance, TH to TH, was 19.02 miles, and my total elevation gain was 4,712 feet. I still had over an hour drive to get home, but with the windows open and a big-o sandwich with sport drinks in the cooler, it was an enjoyable relaxing drive.
National Park Service - Climbing and Mountaineering in Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park: The High Peaks
U.S. National Parks Net - Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking Guide
