Three Colorado Hikes

A grove of aspens along County Road 3 enroute to Lake Evelyn show their fall color.

Sept 25-27

Tammi Hermann and I hiked for three days straight in the Granby CO area, taking in the scenery made rich with the fall colors of  aspen groves such as those pictured above.

First Hike: Lost Lake Sep 25

This 1.4 mile round-trip hike involved driving on US Highway 40 onto Highway 125 for almost 17 miles and from there onto NFSR 123 for 5 miles to NFSR 123.3 to the trailhead at 9,450 feet elevation. The trail passed primarily through woodland to the small lake at 9,650 feet, where the photos below were taken as we followed the perimeter of the lake. The hike was easy, but the hillside came down to the water's edge at times and there were several boulder fields that had to be crossed. I was wearing a backpack of at least 25 pounds, and navigating the boulders was difficult and posed some risk.

The view near where the trail reaches the lake.

The view from the opposite side of the lake

A view point adjacent to the final boulder field when we were almost done circling the lake

Tammi on a wood bridge crossing a small stream. A small amount of snow remained on the bridge.

Second Hike: Lake Evelyn Sep. 26

We reached the trailhead by driving West on US Highway 40 through Hot Sulfur Springs and from there south along County Road 3, which afforded us views of fall colors and valleys below.

Aspen at the foot of the hill; evergreens toward the top with aspen intermingled

An oasis-like pond below the road enroute to Lake Evelyn

The trip took us over Forest Service roads which were rutted, potholed and quite rocky, making the high clearance of my 2005 Honda CRV an asset. But the bumpy ride out also convinced us to take Route 50 back, which was much smoother and delivered us to the outskirts of Fraser, which is close enough to Granby that it proved to be a quicker route home. A couple we met on the trail made us aware of the route, but it wasn't well marked and we found ourselves back-tracking from a side road when they caught up with us,  and led us to Fraser.

Map overview showing locations of Fraser, Granby and Hot Sulfur Springs.

A closer view, showing Lake Evelyn in the lower center and the path, in red, that we hiked

A Google satellite view; The top arrow points to the trailhead; bottom to the lake.

There were a couple thrills on the hike: A turkey that followed the path ahead of us for a brief period then flew into a tree; and  large porcupine that lumbered across the road at dusk and then waddled over fallen trees and through low brush to evade us and the couple leading us to Fraser.

During the hike I showed a heart rate of 136 bpm. We ascended the better part of the 1,135 foot elevation gain mentioned in a park service brochure. My map My Hike program, which produced the first two maps above, suggests that we ascended 884 feet before we turned back to avoid traveling the rough road in low light. Overall distance according to Map My Hike: 3.56 miles. The photo of Tammi, immediately below, was taken close to the upper extent of our hike.

Tammi Herman

Tammi expressing the joy of descent

The corpulent porcupine fleeing in a waddle at dusk

Third Hike: Lake Columbine and the Continental Divide, Sep. 27

We reached the trailhead for this 7.3 mile hike on a road much more accommodating than the one for the Lake Evelyn hike, but the walking was exhausting because of all the rocks on the trail.

For much of the ascent my heart rate was probably 136 and above. (The next night, in Granby, I recorded a beat of 48 or less while lying resting in bed-- this at virtually 8,000 above sea level.) I rated the hike a 1,000-foot elevation gain to beyond 11,000 feet. I was wearing my standard hiking backpack with warm clothing and the 10 essentials, and figure that it weighed 25 pounds at the bare minimum. I also wore heavy mountain boots. Stones in the path caused us to stumble frequently. The path took us over creeks and along a stepping-stone path over a marsh. We stopped frequently to catch our breath. I hadn't hiked at this elevation since January 2015 when I ascended the crater of the Haleakala Volcano, whose rim was about 10,000 feet. And I was surprised to be ascending better than last year.

We almost quit before we reached the lake due to the appearance of the terrain, which, from some angles, suggested we had climbed to the level of the lake and that it had almost dried up. A couple told us the real lake was about 20-minutes farther, but it was probably twice that--although worth the effort, as the photo below indicates.

Columbine Lake, which is about 8 feet deep, is situated at the base of Mount Neva, which is part of the Continental Divide. The lake is fed from the concave west face of Mount Neva.

Although we didn't see moose, when we lost track of the trail during our descent and performed some cross-country navigation, I found a pile of shiny moose pellets near the waterfall pictured below, which I maneuvered around but Tammi crossed.

The waterfall likely is conveying water from Columbine Lake.

We didn't see moose (the couple we met were luckier and had a superb profile photo), but on the road home that night we saw deer as well as  another large porcupine. We also saw more colorful alder, as in the photo below:

Weight carried on these hikes: At least 25 pounds

Accumulated distance for 2016: 426.507 km
Accumulated elevation gain: 59,856 feet