Another of my favorite hikes. A bit but kicking, but delightful! We have a day off of work, so I phoned a friend and said, hey, this will be fun, wanna go?
Luckily she said yes!
This is a beautiful mountain lake hike, with the trail head right off of 70, which makes it easy to get to. The parking lot is not huge, but also not tiny. This is another popular trail and the lot can fill up by early on a weekend day. I generally choose to go on a weekday when the planets align.
The first 3/4 of the hike is in the shade which is delightful.
After you do a switch back and continue straight up for a bit, you reach the river that drowns out the highway sound. This is a mostly uphill hike. There are a couple respites through meadows and near the top.
The views are to die for and the lake is a delight. It had no ice this year, but the weather was chilly. We went from t-shirts on arrival at the lake, to the next layer to eat lunch and finally the puffy coat to sit and enjoy the view. (Granted the afternoon storms were starting to make their way over the mountains, so the sun went away)
We started at 7:15/7:30am ish. It was about 50 or 60 degrees.
It took us about 4 and half hour hours we added a 30 min lunch break at the top and a couple breaks when breathing got tough or the views were a must enjoy. My fitbit said it was 7miles, all trails says 6.5, my friend’s watch said it was 10 and her phone said it was 7.5 – so you decide how far it is and just go for the views.
There were a number of muddy and water crossings, but there were logs, rocks or dry land around it, so not a deal breaker.
The flowers were not out in force, i have seen meadows of columbines on prior visits, but did get a few nice pops of color and fields of yellow and some indian paint brushes
Stats:
- 6.5-7 miles
- 4 hours and 20 minutes
- 1700 foot elevation gain
Verdict:
Another hike I love. Tough, as it is all uphill.
The views are delightful, the different environments are gorgeous, almost guaranteed of a blue bird day, the sky is so clear.