Glacier Gorge  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  255,243. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac Submitted By:  Richard Rossiter on Oct 19, 2009 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

Looking down towards Black Lake. Lots of snow for...

Description 

The west slope of Long's Peak drops 3000 feet into a rugged basin at the head of Glacier Gorge known as the Black Lake Cirque. Some of the most impressive walls and spires in Rocky Mountain National Park are found here towering above fields of wild flowers, ice-scoured slabs and jewel-like lakes comprising an alpine paradise of exceptional beauty (except for the mosquitoes). The rim of Glacier Gorge is formed by Half Mountain, Storm Peak and Long's Peak on the east; Keyboard of the Winds, Pagoda Mountain and Chief's Head Peak on the south; and by McHenry's Peak, Powell Peak and Thatchtop Mountain on the west. Spearhead and Arrowhead are satellite or island peaks within the rim of the gorge.

Getting There 

Begin from the Glacier Gorge Bus Stop (Trailhead) and follow the Glacier Gorge Trail to Black Lake. A useful shortcut branches right from the main trail just after the 4th stream crossing (about .55 mile) and regains the main trail just east of the Loch Vale Junction. As soon as you cross the log bridge over Icy Brook, you are in Glacier Gorge. This great trail continues to Mills Lake, Jewel Lake and eventually to Black Lake. From Black Lake the trail climbs along a beautiful cascade SE into the basin above Black Lake. From here, cairns indicate the line of least resistance into the upper cirque.

There is also a steep path that leads to Shelf Lake and Solitude Lake. This trail (never built) breaks right from the Glacier Gorge Trail after about 4 miles in some old avalanche debris. Cross Glacier Creek on large flat boulders and the find the start to the trail in the trees. This is less than obvious.

The Classics

Featured Route For Glacier Gorge

Syke's Sickle 5.9+  CO : Alpine Rock : ... : Spearhead

Amazing- Spearhead is located in Rocky Mountain National Park and is perched above Glacier Gorge. Spearhead is an 800-ft granite spire that rises to a sharp point above the upper basin (past Black Lake). In the middle of the immense vertical wall is a right arcing crescent roof dubbed the "Sickle". Syke's Sickle is a wonderful route that ascends several crack systems before arriving at the "Sickle". P1 ascends a 5.5, left-arcing, wide crack (easy to spot in the center of the wall), then unites w...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

Comments on Glacier Gorge

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By Clayton Laramie From: Boulder, CO May 8, 2012 CONDITION REPORT

MAJOR TREE FALL / WIND DAMAGE on the hike up to Glacier Gorge starting right after the Glacier Gorge backcountry campsite. A sign at that bridge says 1.2 miles to Black Lake. Normally that's about 10 minutes. Right now with over 1/2 mile of downed trees (tens of thousands of them) it may take you more like 1 - 1.5 hours for that short section of trail and you will be tight-rope walking on trees 10 feet above the ground, crawling under them, post-holing in the snow patches in between. In-a-day pushes to Spearhead will be burly until NPS finishes sawing a path through the destruction. I would count on adding 3 hours to the normal hike time for Glacier Gorge on in-a-day push attempts. MAJOR tree fall will add at least 1 hour to your hike up to Spearhead and the rest of Glacier Gorge. And it's more like 4th class tree scrambling for most of that part (half mile plus of tree fall hell). Submitted By: Clayton Laramie on May 8, 2012

By Rich Farnham From: Nederland, CO Aug 15, 2011

There is a very new-looking bridge on the hike into Spearhead. I didn't really pay attention to where it was, but near Mills Lake seems about right. We had no problem hiking into the cirque, so I'd assume that the bridge problem Ross describes has been fixed.