Twin Sisters Mountain

Stacie and I wanted to hike a little bit harder trail than we had been doing, so we picked Twin Sisters Mountain.  I wanted to get Stacie on a hike above tree line, and the guidebook said that the views were among the best of any hike along the front range.

Twin Sisters is located on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park.  It is part of a detached section of the park on the other side of CO-7 from the main park.  The trail head is at the end of the road that leads back behind the Lily Lake Visitor Center.

We arrived at the trailhead parking area a little after 8am, and there were already enough cars that we had to park down the road a ways.  The actual trailhead is a quarter mile farther down the closed off road on the left side.

The trail starts off on a gentle grade but soon starts to climb.  A short way down the trail Stacie was really feeling the altitude, and we realized that she had forgotten to use her inhaler before we started.  She took a couple puffs right then, but it takes a while to fully take effect and open up her lungs.  We kept on going, taking our time, but as we worked our way up into the switchbacks Stacie was gasping for air and her heart was racing in the red zone.  After another hour the medication finally let her breath comfortably, but she burned a lot of energy during that first mile.

The view to the west from the switchbacks was one of the best views of Longs Peak I’ve ever seen.  We could see Longs Peak, Mt Meeker, Mt Lady Washington, and Estes Cone.

As we climbed up past 10,500 feet, the we noticed the trees starting to get thinner, and around 10,800 feet we got our first glimpses of alpine tundra in the large openings between the trees.  We started seeing snow on the sides of the trail, and the trees were really getting shorter.  There was also evidence of the strong winds; gusts of over 100mph are not unusual, and many of the trees were bent and twisted.

 

Finally at just over 11,000 feet we hit tree line.  The trail had been getting rockier up to this point, but after this it was all rocks with tiny patches of grass and moss along the sides.

From the tree line it’s only one more mile to the saddle, with just a few more switchbacks.

We made it up to the saddle between the two peaks at about 11:30am. There is a benchmark in the saddle to the east (left) of where the trail comes out.  To the west (right) is the Twin Sisters Electronic Site, a radio site used for search and rescue operations. From the saddle, you have to scramble up to the summit of each peak.  The west peak is quite a bit easier, but the east peak is taller, and it there was no one on it at the time, so after a short break we went east.

The scramble up the east summit is a steep, 60 foot ascent through broken rock with no defined trail.  The benchmark is toward the south side, at the highest point.  Slightly east of it is a log book in a white PVC container.  The spot where the log is located is a protected niche just big enough for two people and their packs.  We stopped there to enjoy a long lunch.  While we were relaxing we heard a pika alarming, and saw him run by just a few feet away.

The view from this summit is breathtaking; on a fairly clear day you can see east out to DIA; we could just make out the white roof of the terminal.  Looking west and slightly south Longs Peak dominates the skyline; there is no better view of the mountain than that.  Looking south, you can see down to Pikes Peak if you look carefully.  To the north and west you can see most of the Mummy Range.

Between the beautiful views, crisp air, and pleasant solitude we didn’t want to leave, but we knew there was a good change of afternoon storms so after an hour we started the hike back down.

As usual, the trip back down was almost harder than the hike up.  The constant pounding on the descent quickly tired out our feet and knees, and we stopped often for micro-breaks.  The switchbacks seemed to never end on the way down.

When we got back to the bottom it felt especially good to sit down in the Hummer.  Overall this was the most rewarding hike we have done to date, between the increased challenge and the incredibly rewarding views at the summit.

See all of the pictures: Photo Gallery

Trail Information:
Name: Twin Sisters Trail
Location: 10 miles south of Estes Park on CO-7, near Lily Lake
Length: 7.9 miles round trip 
Difficulty: Moderate
GPX file:
Elevation Profile: