Thatchtop RMNP

Summit portrait on Thatchtop 12,668, RMNP -Longs Peak rises behind my shoulders.

 Sublimity in accessing the alpine... Through massive aspen groves, then crossing rushing creeks over thick fallen logs to lush grassy hummocks beneath seeping springs that drip over jagged black billion year old stone. Above is krummholtz- twisted wood of the stunted pines from the harsh freezing winds at altitude. Riverine talus fields that seem to be never ending and never that stable- a rocker-block beneath weight, a block waiting to cut loose with the slightest touch as I loose the trees altogether. Other shifts to, the large butterflies in the aspens stay low, giving reign to spiders waiting in the rising talus. As trees get smaller, so to do the flowers... Ptarmigan loosing their winter white are hardly disturbed as I walk past. Tiny pika wander at will on the summit...

The forgotten twelvers... 15-20 ascents a year for Thatchtop? Nice to have a long-awaited day in the alpine alone, without the crush of the rest of humanity that totters just a couple miles below on the trails and popular routes nearby...

Looking north, finding the pika's viewpoint- from the summit of Thatchtop.