Twin Owls Parking Lot - Update.
Submitted By: John McNamee on Apr 20, 2006
For those of you that have not visited Lumpy since last summer; construction of the new Twin Owls/Gem Lake parking lot and access road is well underway. The road is roughed in and had its gravel base-course applied. They have blasted rock and formed large retaining walls for the 80-car lot. They are currently blasting/excavating for the toliet and completiing the loop/parking area shaping work.
ALL construction work will cease for the summer and resume in Sept.
NPS hopes to pave the road and parking area by next summer '07 and thus will end a half century of using the Ol' dirt lot. The new parking lot will add .7 miles to the one-way hike and connect you to the old lot location by way of a gentle trail to the NW thru a saddle in the ridge. The new lot is pristene, quiet and protected. (and does not afford a view of Longs or all of Glacier Basin-which sucks).
Comments on Twin Owls Parking Lot - Update.
By Nate A
Apr 22, 2006
| FYI: While recently hiking down from the Crescent Wall area my partner and I were stopped by an NPS trail crew employee who was holding all trail traffic while blasting at the new parking lot. Talking to him about the new trail location he advised me that it would stay as it currently is, heading north uphill to the junction where you head east to Gem Lake or west to the existing parking lot. |
By Charlie Perry
From: Fort Collins
May 5, 2006
| It is unfortunate. For some reason I do not think that the climbing community was represented in the best of light considering this issue. I was just climbing at Sundance. One of the premiere cliffs at Lumpy. The extra distance will be a burden and for what? |
By J pee
From: Boulder Tweak
May 7, 2006
| I agree with Charlie on the extra distance to Sundance being a pain, but there is a flip side to that coin. I was out at Sundance about 3 weeks ago on a Sunday (mid April) and there were about 15 parties on the rock and by the base. If the new parking lot means less people interested in climbing there because the hike is longer, my heart would not be broken. Hardest part for me is that it will become exponentially more difficult to get the early morning "ninja strike" in before work. It will take a little getting used to. |
By Leo Paik
Administrator
From: Westminster, Colorado
May 15, 2006
| One thing that definitely will be a bummer with the new lot is the distance young kids who climb will have to travel. Watching my 3 year old hike now twice to The Pear and climb there with her sisters, it's a big hike from the Twin Owls lot & back. She's exhausted by the end but she's proud to make it, climb, and hike back. I'm not sure 3 year olds will be able to make the hike from the new lot, climb, and hike back. That's an extra 1.4 miles & that's a lot for young kids. Maybe less well-known rocks will become targets for young kids.... |
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