Frozen Lake


Be sure to click on these thumbnail photos for larger versions.

 1. Shortly after starting the hike I was greeted by this view of the moon setting over Hallett Peak.  It was shortly after sunrise so the nearby trees haven't been illuminated yet.
 2. Fall color along the way.
 3. More fall color.
 4. *Aspens along Glacier Creek.
 5. *Alberta Falls.
 6. Changing aspens along the trail.
 7. Mills Lake.
 8. This waterfall was near and below Ribbon Falls.
 9. Ribbon Falls.
 10. *I found this mushroom shortly before reaching Black Lake.
 11. *Black Lake.  Frozen Lake, my destination, lies above the rocky backdrop in this photo.  It definitely doesn't look easy to get there from here.
 12. *This is a telephoto view of the Stone Man.  It can be seen in the top center of the previous photo.
 13. Also visible from Black Lake is The Spearhead, the pointed projection at the top of this photo.  I'll be hiking past this on my way to Frozen Lake.
 14. Mc Henrys Peak.
 15. The Spearhead.  Shortly before I reached The Spearhead, a father/son climbing team passed me in route to The Spearhead.  They were intent on climbing The Spearhead's North face, and had their gear out and ready by the time I caught up with them.
 16. Here is a shot of one of the climbers.
 17. Frozen Lake with Mc Henrys Peak behind.
 18. One of my major objectives on this hike was to get as close as I could to Longs Peak's West face and get a high resolution close-up photo.  The keyhole route trail to the summit of Longs Peak traverses almost the entire width of this seven shot photo.  I was hoping to see some hikers in the photos, but haven't found any yet.  I need to study them a little more closely.  The Keyhole is at the left end and the Trough is at the right end.

I had entertained the possibility of climbing The Spearhead, which would have given me a better angle on Long's West face.  However, the path required to do so traversed a boulder field seemingly reminiscent of Long's bolder field.  OK I'm exaggerating a little, the rocks weren't as large as Long's but it still would have been a lot of rock hopping just to get to the climbable side of the Spearhead.  And then I'd still have to climb it, assuming of course that it was easier than the side I photographed.  The North base looked good enough to me. 

These seven shots were taken with a 300 mm lens.  Super Size It!  (544kB).

 19. To the right of Longs Peak is The Keyboard of the Winds.
 20. I received a request to show the route I took from Black Lake to Frozen Lake.  Click on this thumbnail to show a larger view of the area.  It's hard to show exactly where the route is that I took, but I made my best guess on this map.  The portion of the trail leading east from Black Lake is very good.  After crossing the stream however, the best route to take isn't nearly so clear.  I basically headed for the north base of the Spearhead which is in clear view by that point.  There are some cairns, but they are few and far between, and not easy to follow.  It would be more accurate to say that I stumbled on a few rather than followed them.

*Photos with the asterisk were taken along this same hike a different year, and were added to fill in some gaps.