Rocky Mountain National Park: Estes Cone via Longs Peak Trailhead

 My friend Ben and I had originally intended to head to the Indian Peaks Wilderness for an ascent of South Arapaho Peak. However, that hike spends quite a bit of time up above treeline and the weather forecast was calling for a pretty good chance of rain. Instead of heading to Kelly Dahl Campground, we decided to call an audible and headed to the Peaceful Valley Campground instead. 

We awoke this morning to a beautiful alpenglow sunrise, 

ate a quick breakfast and then made the drive to the Longs Peak Trailhead at Rocky Mountain National Park. We wouldn't be hiking the iconic 14er today though, instead our destination was Estes Cone. 

We parked at the trailhead and then hit the trail at a pretty brisk pace.

Soon enough we were at the first trail junction 

where we took the trail to the right that led to Eugenia Mine. 

The hike continued on the Storm Pass Trail with a descent ascent.

Soon, we found ourselves at the mine site where we did a little exploring.

After our short break we continued on, passing through Moore Park with its nice views of our destination: Estes Cone.

From Moore Park the trail climbed a bit more steeply. We took a few breaks where there were some nice views out to Longs Peak.

After reaching Storm Pass the trail got quite steep.

The .7 miles from the pass to the summit went pretty slow due to the rugged nature of the trail. Still, the view at the summit out to Longs Peak and the surrounding area, was well worth the climb. 

We probably spent about 30 minutes enjoying the view before starting to make our way back down to the trailhead.