Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
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You can hike in via the Abyss Lake Trail to meet the Tour de Abyss route where it cross the meadow at the bottom of gully off the road. It'll add quite a bit of mileage. About 7.5 miles on the Abyss Lake Trail one way to that intersection point.
yes it adds mileage, but that route is gorgeous and there are some excellent backpacking spots.
Im looking to backpack the Abyss Lake Trail and Connect to the Tour De Abyss as well as go down to summit lake via the Mt Spalding and the west ridge. Im assuming this would be a three day trip, but would it be possible in two?
It certainly could be done in two. My partner and I did the Tour de Abyss loop yesterday via Bierstadt - West Slopes. See the conditions update for details, but it's a long day in terms of both elevation and scrambling and of course approaching via Abyss Lake Trail is even longer. Are you hiking down to Summit Lake to camp half way through the traverse? Otherwise, there are few good camping spots on the route outside of where it crosses below Abyss Lake.
If I were to do it in two days, I'd probably hike in and camp at the base of the route below Abyss lake, then complete the entire Tour de Abyss in a single day and hike back out afterwards. Even with 3 days, I'd probably do the entire loop in a single day and hike out the morning of the third day.
yes it adds mileage, but that route is gorgeous and there are some excellent backpacking spots.
Im looking to backpack the Abyss Lake Trail and Connect to the Tour De Abyss as well as go down to summit lake via the Mt Spalding and the west ridge. Im assuming this would be a three day trip, but would it be possible in two?
It certainly could be done in two. My partner and I did the Tour de Abyss loop yesterday via Bierstadt - West Slopes. See the conditions update for details, but it's a long day in terms of both elevation and scrambling and of course approaching via Abyss Lake Trail is even longer. Are you hiking down to Summit Lake to camp half way through the traverse? Otherwise, there are few good camping spots on the route outside of where it crosses below Abyss Lake.
If I were to do it in two days, I'd probably hike in and camp at the base of the route below Abyss lake, then complete the entire Tour de Abyss in a single day and hike back out afterwards. Even with 3 days, I'd probably do the entire loop in a single day and hike out the morning of the third day.
I’m planning on starting in the afternoon and camping at helms lake. I would hike up to abyss in the early morning and start the loop but not sure if I’d be able to do the entire loop while going down to the summit lake and make it back to the trailhead in one day. If not I’d just camp at helms lake again on the way back out. Wouldn’t be able to get to this until late August or early September though so just trying to plan super ahead.
