Things You Should Not Do Before A Hike (to Chasm Lake)

It’s another throwback post (will it ever not be with the backlog I have?). I have here, our first sunrise hike in Colorado.

With every first, comes lessons. Watch us do stupid things and learn from us. Or don’t.

1. Camp at a spot that requires off-roading

The day prior, we figured we’d drive as near as we could to Chasm Lake so we don’t have to drive too much the next morning. We somehow managed to figure out that there were going to be some dispersed camping spots in Estes park, so we headed there. We soon realised we had to do a little bit of off-roading to get to a good spot. Tomio was obviously delighted because he loves off-roading.

We found out later that was not the best choice because we had to drive out, in the dark, over large rocks, the next morning:

This was also the first time we did car camping with our new jeep mattress. I remember it being really squeaky and we kept rolling towards each other because it deepened in the middle. Now that I think about it, it might have been the only time we used the jeep mattress. It’s currently packed away in my storeroom and I’m pretty sure there’s a hole that‘s causing it to leak air.

Anyway, camping was fun and being the Asians that we are, we had to eat Nongshim for dinner.

Which brings me to…

2. Eat Nongshim Before A Hike

Spicy food is not a good meal choice before a morning hike. A little jump in the timeline here, but yes I suffered during the hike (right after we reached the lake). I still remember those cold shivers and rumbling tummy. There was a toilet in the middle of nowhere, but I also remember having to wait for someone to finish their business while I was shaking trying to keep the nongshim in. Thank goodness I have strong willpower. The toilet was pretty cool tbh - it‘s a manual conveyor belt i.e. you shit on it, then there’s a crank for you to move your poop along. It eventually drops into hole.

Jumping back - so we ate dinner, washed up, and tucked ourselves in for the night. Except… Tomio decided to..

3. Watch Stranger Things Instead of Sleeping Early

This one’s on Tomio. I slept like a baby despite the jeep mattress. He stayed up late watching the show and regretted it the next day during the hike. Hey, you need all the energy you can get bruh. Always get your rest! Tired body = sad hike.

We set off early the next morning and the first half of the hike was in darkness. I personally enjoy hiking as early as possible. It’s exhausting when the sun is beating down on you.

The hike up was gorgeous:

The lake was… quite underwhelming:

Chasm Lake Trail is a 8.0 mile out-and-back trail with about 2.5k feet elevation gain. It took us about 5 hours (including our rests, and my number 2) to complete.

I liked the hike up more than the actual lake itself. Either way, it was a nice first-sunrise-hike but obviously we could have prepped better. The question is, will we ever learn though? How do you refuse Nongshim in the woods?