Nice hike, with great views . Sat on the summit with some hamsters( or squirrells or something?).
Hiked again 2/17/05, broke trail with snowshoes. Welcome temps, as it was 5 degrees in lafayette area and 15 degrees or so warmer in the mountains.
Route Climbed: Standard Trail Date Climbed: March 18, 2004
Took a friend from Indiana up this as a nice casual day climb. Weather was incredibly warm, did the entire hike in shorts and a polypro shirt and wind vest. Trail was pretty easy to follow.
Route Climbed: Estes Cone Trail Date Climbed: March 7, 2004
We spent a calm, bluebird morning shoeing up Estes Cone. Conditions were especially brilliant considering the 112 mph winds recorded at Niwot Ridge just a day before. We were the first to break trail following the week's storms, but this is an easy task when there's layer after layer of icy, broken trail beneath a few new inches of snow -- like walking on a sidewalk! Summit views of Longs and Meeker were astounding, but I think the best sight of the day was watching clouds pouring over the Continental Divide, spilling into Tyndall Gorge and Chaos Canyon, obscuring but highlighting Otis and Hallett Peaks. A trip report is available here.
big_g - Oct 28, 2003 10:33 pm Date Climbed: Oct 28, 2003
Route Climbed: std from Longs Peak ranger station Date Climbed: 28 Oct 2003
Took my visiting cousin (from OH) to RMNP to summit his first mountain. He made it although he was noticably less energetic towards the top. We had lots of fun scrabling around on the summit rocks.
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: March 16, 2003
I did this as a snowshoe with the Colorado Mountain Club. The snow thinned out for the last 300 feet (or so) to the summit, so we had to remove our 'shoes. It was an overcast day, but we still had great views of the Twin Sisters and Longs Peak. A few days later, we got hit with a massive snowstorm (The Blizzard of 2003) down in Denver.
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: July 31, 2003
After somehow failing to recognize and reach the summit four years ago, my friend Jeremy and I finally reached the top of Estes Cone. It provides superb views of Longs, which I climbed one year prior to the day, Meeker, and Twin Sisters. The summit log was full, but I squeezed my name to say I had made it!
Route Climbed: From Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: June 21, 2003
I have wanted to climb Estes Cone for a number of years and finally got there this weekend. Awesome views of Longs and Meeker! We celebrated the summer solstice at the top by balancing some eggs.
:-) A great hike through the forest and some fun rock scrambling at the top.
Route Climbed: From Long's ranger station Date Climbed: 21JUN2003
This was a great hike for a novice. The first 2 miles offer some great wilderness scenery and had a runoff stream that exemplified the Colorado mountain experience. The last 1/2 mile was a bit of a challenge for me (I am a bit out of shape), but the views of Long's and Meeker were worth every ounce of effort I put in.
Route Climbed: from Long's Peak Campground off Hwy 7 Date Climbed: May 17, 2003
The weather was absolutely gorgeous! I took my two young children and wife. Two co-workers also came along.
There was quite a bit of snow on the trail, especially above 9500 feet. I should've brought snow-shoes for my seven-year-old -- the postholing really slowed him down, and at 10,200 feet we decided to turn around.
Nonetheless we had a great time hanging out in the hills. We encountered a group from CMC who were taking a map/compass test. Hope you all did well!
Photos are at http://www.masoner.net/photos/estescone/
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: October 30, 2001
This is a great little mountain. It was a cloudy day below, but the summit was about 200 ft above the clouds. The views of the peaks popping thier summits through the clouds was amazing!
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Ranger Station Date Climbed: November, 23 2002
we went up late november of 2002 thinking that we could do a little snowshoeing in the area. to our disappointment we found very little snow and ended up looking for something to do. either my buddy or i had climbed up estes cone so we decided to go on up and check it out. there was a little bit of snow, enough to slap the ole snowshoes on from time to time and get our early season fix in. once we past moore's park the trail disappeared off into the snow, so figuring the only way to summit something is to start climbing straight up, we did a little trail cutting for about 2 miles up the side.... eventually we came across the lily lake trail and followed it way down to the junction where a ton of trails came together at the foot of estes cone, we started climbing. once we got to the top we spent about an hour running around the top trying to stay warm and out of the wind, snapped a few photos, eventually we broke out the hot chocolate and soup to have a little summit top lunch, then headed down. estes cone was a lot of fun, i really dug that hike and look forward to going back someday.
Route Climbed: Longs Peak TH Date Climbed: 12/28/02
Made the hike with my 50 year old flat lander Dad. He did a great job and we were rewarded with the first windless day in Estes since the beginning of December.
Route Climbed: Norma Route Date Climbed: July 1997
Did it as training with a large pack. Hey, I was only thirteen! Anyway it's a pretty fun hike with friends and there aren't many places better than that area of colorado.
petersbike - May 9, 2004 11:20 pm
Route Climbed: summit trail Date Climbed: 5-09-04Nice hike, with great views . Sat on the summit with some hamsters( or squirrells or something?).
Hiked again 2/17/05, broke trail with snowshoes. Welcome temps, as it was 5 degrees in lafayette area and 15 degrees or so warmer in the mountains.
Chris - Mar 21, 2004 2:28 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Trail Date Climbed: March 18, 2004Took a friend from Indiana up this as a nice casual day climb. Weather was incredibly warm, did the entire hike in shorts and a polypro shirt and wind vest. Trail was pretty easy to follow.
RyanS - Mar 8, 2004 4:16 pm
Route Climbed: Estes Cone Trail Date Climbed: March 7, 2004We spent a calm, bluebird morning shoeing up Estes Cone. Conditions were especially brilliant considering the 112 mph winds recorded at Niwot Ridge just a day before. We were the first to break trail following the week's storms, but this is an easy task when there's layer after layer of icy, broken trail beneath a few new inches of snow -- like walking on a sidewalk! Summit views of Longs and Meeker were astounding, but I think the best sight of the day was watching clouds pouring over the Continental Divide, spilling into Tyndall Gorge and Chaos Canyon, obscuring but highlighting Otis and Hallett Peaks. A trip report is available here.
big_g - Oct 28, 2003 10:33 pm Date Climbed: Oct 28, 2003
Route Climbed: std from Longs Peak ranger station Date Climbed: 28 Oct 2003Took my visiting cousin (from OH) to RMNP to summit his first mountain. He made it although he was noticably less energetic towards the top. We had lots of fun scrabling around on the summit rocks.
Very windy out there today!
belexes - Aug 22, 2003 2:29 pm
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: March 16, 2003I did this as a snowshoe with the Colorado Mountain Club. The snow thinned out for the last 300 feet (or so) to the summit, so we had to remove our 'shoes. It was an overcast day, but we still had great views of the Twin Sisters and Longs Peak. A few days later, we got hit with a massive snowstorm (The Blizzard of 2003) down in Denver.
hoosierhiker - Aug 5, 2003 10:42 pm
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: July 31, 2003After somehow failing to recognize and reach the summit four years ago, my friend Jeremy and I finally reached the top of Estes Cone. It provides superb views of Longs, which I climbed one year prior to the day, Meeker, and Twin Sisters. The summit log was full, but I squeezed my name to say I had made it!
mtnhiker13 - Jun 23, 2003 11:42 am
Route Climbed: From Longs Peak Trailhead Date Climbed: June 21, 2003I have wanted to climb Estes Cone for a number of years and finally got there this weekend. Awesome views of Longs and Meeker! We celebrated the summer solstice at the top by balancing some eggs.
:-) A great hike through the forest and some fun rock scrambling at the top.
shannarae2k - Jun 23, 2003 9:25 am
Route Climbed: From Longs Ranger station Date Climbed: June 21, 2003This was my first Summit. Beautiful Views of Long and Meeker, and a lot of fun!
attila_dobai - Jun 22, 2003 12:12 am
Route Climbed: From Long's ranger station Date Climbed: 21JUN2003This was a great hike for a novice. The first 2 miles offer some great wilderness scenery and had a runoff stream that exemplified the Colorado mountain experience. The last 1/2 mile was a bit of a challenge for me (I am a bit out of shape), but the views of Long's and Meeker were worth every ounce of effort I put in.
richardmasoner - May 21, 2003 1:15 pm
Route Climbed: from Long's Peak Campground off Hwy 7 Date Climbed: May 17, 2003The weather was absolutely gorgeous! I took my two young children and wife. Two co-workers also came along.
There was quite a bit of snow on the trail, especially above 9500 feet. I should've brought snow-shoes for my seven-year-old -- the postholing really slowed him down, and at 10,200 feet we decided to turn around.
Nonetheless we had a great time hanging out in the hills. We encountered a group from CMC who were taking a map/compass test. Hope you all did well!
Photos are at http://www.masoner.net/photos/estescone/
RFM
granddeity - May 6, 2003 12:19 am
Route Climbed: Standard (Longs Peak TH) Date Climbed: May 4, 2003We decided to do it without snowshoes and we were rewarded with lots of postholes. Nice hike, great view of Long's.
smudge - May 4, 2003 2:50 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: October 30, 2001This is a great little mountain. It was a cloudy day below, but the summit was about 200 ft above the clouds. The views of the peaks popping thier summits through the clouds was amazing!
ogonzoo - Jan 13, 2003 6:19 am
Route Climbed: Longs Peak Ranger Station Date Climbed: November, 23 2002we went up late november of 2002 thinking that we could do a little snowshoeing in the area. to our disappointment we found very little snow and ended up looking for something to do. either my buddy or i had climbed up estes cone so we decided to go on up and check it out. there was a little bit of snow, enough to slap the ole snowshoes on from time to time and get our early season fix in. once we past moore's park the trail disappeared off into the snow, so figuring the only way to summit something is to start climbing straight up, we did a little trail cutting for about 2 miles up the side.... eventually we came across the lily lake trail and followed it way down to the junction where a ton of trails came together at the foot of estes cone, we started climbing. once we got to the top we spent about an hour running around the top trying to stay warm and out of the wind, snapped a few photos, eventually we broke out the hot chocolate and soup to have a little summit top lunch, then headed down. estes cone was a lot of fun, i really dug that hike and look forward to going back someday.
miztflip - Dec 29, 2002 1:15 pm
Route Climbed: Longs Peak TH Date Climbed: 12/28/02Made the hike with my 50 year old flat lander Dad. He did a great job and we were rewarded with the first windless day in Estes since the beginning of December.
Distel32 - Oct 27, 2002 10:23 pm
Route Climbed: Norma Route Date Climbed: July 1997Did it as training with a large pack. Hey, I was only thirteen! Anyway it's a pretty fun hike with friends and there aren't many places better than that area of colorado.
Josh - Mar 15, 2002 8:27 am
Route Climbed: Standard Trail Date Climbed: 1996, 1998I've hiked Estes Cone a few times. The first time, I got paid! (I was on RMNP trail crew) Always a nice hike with great views of Longs Peak.
Bodhi - Mar 15, 2002 7:38 am
Route Climbed: Trail to summit from Longs Peak TH Date Climbed: 5.27.2000Summitted w/ wife. Killer views! Great
day trip in Rocky Mountain National Park
without the high exposure of altitude.
Campground rocks! Will climb again!
Eugenia Mine is a cool resting stop.