Sandbeach Lake Trail System

The Sandbeach Lake Trailhead lies at the eastern end of the unpaved road leading into Wild Basin. (For driving instructions to this point, see the beginning of this chapter.) From the parking lot the trail ascends steeply through sunny woods on Copeland Moraine. Eventually you reach a ridgetop after a short set of switchbacks. Here a trail from Meeker Park comes in on the right, 1.2 miles from the trailhead.

Continue climbing straight ahead at a steady rate for 1.1 miles to the crossing of Campers Creek. Exactly 1.0 mile farther on you cross Hunters Creek. After almost another 1.0 mile of steady uphill hiking, you arrive at Sandbeach Lake, 4.2 miles from the trailhead.

If this description of the hike to Sandbeach Lake has failed to stir your interest, it may be because until you reach the lake, the trail is not terribly fascinating. The lake itself is pretty, with the high peaks in southern Wild Basin rising beyond, somewhat subdued by distance. Removal of its dam allowed the water to drop to its natural level, revealing the sand beach that the reservoir had covered when it was full. Sandbeach Lake serves as a jumping-off point for the three highest mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park—Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, and Chiefs Head Peak—plus the difficult Pagoda Peak.

The actual point of departure for all these summits lies a short way back up the trail, before it reaches the lake. At the point where the trail turns southwest and begins to descend to the lake, climbers must strike off through the woods. The first step in climbing Chiefs Head Peak is to climb Mount Orton. From the trail, keep walking northwest—the same direction the trail was heading before it turned toward the lake. Then bear a little to the left to cross a rivulet that flows into the lake and climb out of the trees onto a ridge above the lake. Keep heading uphill until you reach the top of Orton, a jumble of rocks on the eastern end of a crest leading to Chiefs Head.

Mount Orton is not particularly high, but you will notice before you reach the top that it is strategically located. The Orton Ridge (also called North Ridge) juts into Wild Basin from the surrounding mountain wall, providing a relatively convenient platform from which to view the entire basin.

From the top of Orton, which you can bypass easily on the right, it is an uncomplicated hike over tundra to the summit of Chiefs Head. The way becomes steeper at the end, naturally. Nearby peaks such as Mount Alice, McHenrys Peak, Pagoda Mountain, Mount Meeker, and Longs Peak fill the panorama with grandeur.

The Wild Basin route up Mount Meeker (see the Longs Peak and Nearby Goals chapter for an alternate route) leaves the Sandbeach Lake Trail as it begins to descend to Sandbeach Lake. Bear to the right and cross Hunters Creek. Ascend the gully on the south side of Meeker, keeping to the left of Dragons Egg Rock, which stands obtrusively in the middle of the gully. As you draw even with the rock, bear left to climb Meeker’s southwestern ridge. The final stretch along the ridge to the summit is steep but uncomplicated.

Pagoda Mountain usually is climbed from Glacier Gorge (see the Bear Lake Road chapter), but if you are in Wild Basin and get the urge to do Pagoda, leave the Sandbeach Trail as it turns down to the lake. Keep walking in the same direction the trail was heading, into the valley between Mounts Meeker and Orton.

Cross Hunters Creek, and pick your way up the valley until you can turn right without scaling cliffs. Climb up the steep valley between Meeker and Pagoda to masses of loose rock (scree) at the base of Longs Peak. Make your way up this scree toward the cliffs on the right-hand side. Keep climbing the right-hand side of a huge cirque in the southeast face of Pagoda to the lowest point in the saddle between Longs and Pagoda. Long after you have grown thoroughly sick of loose rock, you will reach the saddle and turn left toward the summit. The terrain will guide you below the crest of the ridge to the very small summit of Pagoda, which is as pointed as a mountaintop should be.

To climb Longs Peak by the difficult route of the first ascent back in 1868, follow the above route (from the Sandbeach Trail to Pagoda) as far as the scree slopes at the base of Longs. Then look up for The Notch on the right-hand side of the peak and a wall to the right of it. Climb up the fan of loose rock farthest to the right, below the wall. When the fan narrows, bear left and follow a diagonal ledge to the left. This becomes a gully (filled with loose rock, what else?), which eventually takes you to a small shelf below the vertical columns—The Palisades—to the right of The Notch.

On ledges to the left of the gully, traverse a few hundred feet across cliffs and then climb diagonally left to the base of the Homestretch. Follow the red-and-yellow-painted bull’s-eyes up the 45-degree slope to the summit.

This route up Longs was discovered by L. W. Keplinger, who scouted it for explorer John Wesley Powell. Nearby Keplinger Lake commemorates the intrepid scout. To reach the lake, climb Mount Orton. If you wish, you can bypass the top of Orton and contour along its northern slope to Hunters Creek. The traverse will necessitate some steep sidehill walking and perhaps a slight loss in elevation, but it will keep you out of dense krummholz traps that seemingly require magic to pass through. Follow Hunters Creek upstream past large boulders to its source, Keplinger Lake. A cirque hangs dramatically over the lake on the southwest face of Pagoda.