We made our way through the Ledges and reached the crux, grabbed our poles, and bypassed the final gendarme to the Keyhole. We reached the Keyhole and chilled out in the building. There was another lady in there, seemingly in her own world. However, Becky, Regina, and I chatted away and got ready for the long hike down.
A long hike it was. In retrospect, the Trough is not as bad compared to the last four miles of Longs. It just blows. One thing you can take out of it is that you have seen zero of the views coming up because it was at night. So that is some solace.
We made it down and were exhausted. We stopped in Lyons at Oskar Blues to get some grub. Good stuff, I really dig that place. We high tailed it and got back to the Super Target.
Overall it was an awesome hike with the best company you could ask for. I think I may have heard “slave driver” or something of that nature, but I just wanted us to complete this serious endeavor safely. I have a lot of respect for Longs Peak. OK, so I could have been more forgiving on that last break in the woods, but hey…we were below tree line!!!
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