Mount Chapin

This weekend we decided to attempt Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsilon.  These are part of a series of 12 and 13 thousand foot mountains in the Mummy Range in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Once you reach the first summit you can walk from peak to peak via the saddle between the mountains and keep going on down the range to as many other mountains as you wish.

We decided we were going to try for all three, but we figured that we would get at least the first one or two.  We got up at 6am on Sat to get an early start.  To get to the trailhead, we had to drive through RMNP to Endovalley in Horseshoe Park, and then take Fall River Road about 7 miles to the trailhead.  We got to the trailhead just after 9am, and the tiny parking area was full.  We had to park on the side of the road about a quarter mile farther up and hike back down to the trailhead.

The trail started out all business; the first 100 feet were at a 10% grade, and the first quarter mile was a constant climb, with grades up to 20% in a few spots.  It was also very technical, requiring us to constantly climb over roots and rocks.  We had to stop after the first tenth of a mile to catch our breath and put on bug spray; the mosquitoes were thick and aggressive in the woods.  We kept pushing on at a fast pace.

 

 

At about a quarter mile we hit the intersection where Chapin Creek Trail continues north and the summit trail goes east. We took the east (right) trail, of course.

 

The trail continued to be a steep climb for another quarter mile or so before it started to level out for longer stretches between the harder climbs.  We also started getting into larger meadows between the trees.

Looking ahead of us we could see a large, crumbling cliff with rocks and boulders spread out for a long distance downhill of it.  It almost looked like the summit, although we knew we were still too low.  The trail wound around to the left of it.

 

 

At one point there were several groups of blue columbine growing in the rocks right down the middle of the trail.  It was right in the middle of a particularly steep climb, so we were happy to stop and appreciate the flowers.

As we climbed through this section of the trail, we had a magnificent view to the west of Trail Ridge Road and the Alpine Visitor Center.  We could see exactly where we were just a couple weeks ago, climbing Marmot Point Trail.

After working our way around and up the right side of a hill we came to a split in the trail at about 0.7 miles.  The sign indicated that the right hand path was the route to the summits, and also warned us that the trails were no longer maintained past this point (“primitive” trails).  This is the end of the trail on the maps.

From this spot we got our first clear view of the Mummy Range from the trail. From right to left, we could see Mount Chapin, Mount Chiquita, Mount Ypsilon, Desolation Peaks, and Flatiron Mountain.

The end was in sight, but we still had a way to go.  We stopped for our first real break, and got out some energy gel to recharge after the previous 45 minutes of climbing and get ready for the next stage.

We took the right hand trail and traveled along the west flank of Chapin for another mile. It seemed like we were hiking right by Chapin, and at times the trail faded to where we could hardly see it, but we kept on going where we thought the trail was and found it again every time. Long fingers of talus stretched across the trail in many places, and the trail became more and more rocky as we went on.

This was the easiest part of the hike; we were still climbing, but it was a long, slow uphill grade instead of the steep climbs earlier.  Thankfully, this gave our legs a little bit of a rest.  We had pushed a little too hard on the first section of the trail, and by this point Stacie’s legs were burning with every step.  This stretch of trail gave her a chance to recover and let the lactic acid flush out of her muscles.  We also got to see many marmot and pika along the sides of the trail.

After about an hour of easy hiking we reached the crossroad in the saddle between Chapin and Chiquita.  Straight ahead was the trail to Chiquita, to the right was the trail to Chapin, and to the left was the alternate trail back to the earlier fork in the trail.  We took the trail to Chapin, which immediately started a super steep climb up the north side of Chapin.

As we climbed up we got our first view of the east face of Chiquita.  Unlike the smooth slope of the west face, the east face is a series of sheer cliffs and snow chutes. Of course pictures don’t capture it in the slightest; it was an awesome sight that dominated the northern view.

The east and north faces of Chapin are similar cliffs, and the trail to the summit runs along north edge.  After a short while up the 10 – 20% grades were were climbing, we needed another break, and we got out some more energy gel to fuel up for the final climb to the summit.

 

It didn’t take us long to get to the ridge line on the east side of Chapin,  At this point the trail, which was already almost invisible, faded no non-existence.  By this time the energy gel had kicked in full force, and we easily followed the ridge up to the summit.

We took our time exploring the summit, and stopped to eat lunch in the shelter of one of the stone lean-tos.  While we were eating a pika ran by right in front of us and took shelter in the rocks near our feet.

After we finished lunch we walked over to the south summit (12360 ft). At this point the wind was picking up, and the clouds were getting a little bit darker, so we decided we needed to head back down.  We quickly made our way back down to the crossroad in the saddle.  From there we decided to take the lower path back.

A short distance down the trail we started to feel raindrops, so we stopped to get out our rain jackets.  After a couple minutes it turned into a real rain, but luckily we had no lightning, and it only lasted for about 20 minutes.

 

The lower trail was extremely steep at the beginning, but then leveled out and took us down into the trees.  Unlike the higher tail, which was above tree line mostly rocks most of the way, this trail was in the trees and grass most of the way.  We didn’t have the incredible views of the higher trail, but we did see many wildflowers, including pink and red Indian Paintbrush.  Shortly after crossing a small creek (we saw the pond that fed it on the upper trail) we climbed up to the split where the upper and lower trail meet.

After a short break and some more gel it was straight on down back to the trailhead.  Our trekking poles once again proved their worth, saving our knees from the pounding of the steep trail on the way down. At the trailhead we had a short but steep hike up back up the road to where we parked the Hummer, and then a short drive the rest of the way up the road to the Alpine Visitor Center.

Mount Chapin was a short but surprisingly difficult hike, with highly technical and very steep ascents and descents.  It turned out to be one of the best hikes we have done to date, with incredible scenery the entire way and a rewarding summit at the end.

View all of the pictures: Photo Gallery