The Wizard of Osborne

6/25/06 - Lake Isabelle

Lake Isabelle is a fantastic hike reached through the Brainard Lake Recreation Area.  It's 4 miles round trip and the easiest hike you'll ever do to reach the type of scenery you get at the destination.

The first part of the hike meanders next to Long Lake, which is touted as being the largest lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area.  The entire trail is well-shaded and gains what little elevation it needs gently over the course of the trail, with a little more serious "up" towards the end (though even that is nothing to flap a hamstring at). 

The more impressive scenery comes towards the end of the hike as you parallel a rocky ridge and finally arrive at Lake Isabelle, framed by majestic peaks.  It's rather breathtaking.  There was still a good bit of snow surrounding the lake and it was rather chilly (my guess is around 49 degrees F), so remember to dress appropriately.

You can climb further to Isabelle Glacier, which we didn't do on this trip, but hope to do next time.

6/18/06 - Diamond Lake

Today we hiked to Diamond Lake in the Indian Peaks wilderness.  The drive through Nederland and up to the Fourth of July trailhead is beautiful and the hike is even better.  (...though the last 5 or so miles of dirt road to get to the trailhead made me glad we didn't drive the Audi.)

By our GPS, the hike was a 4.8 mile out-and-back (that's round trip mileage) that ended around 10,900 feet (it had 1200 feet of elevation gain).  Fortunately, the trail's grade was quite gradual and it had a nice mix of sunny and shady areas.  This hike offered fantastic scenery from start to finish.  There were snowy mountaintops all around, a riot of colorful flowers everywhere you looked, and several happily burbling streams to stop and enjoy. 

In fact, there's water all along the hike.  For the first part of the hike you're accompanied by the sights and sounds of an amazingly tall waterfall on the opposite side of the valley.  Later you find yourself crossing small streams and stopping to admire waterfalls cascading right next to you.  That said, at no point did my feet get soaked nor did we have any issues crossing any of the streams we encountered.

We also ran into quite a bit of snow, which was somewhat challenging to traverse, but very pretty.  For the last tenth of a mile or so, we walked exclusively on snow.  Though it got rather windy and cool at that point, the vistas at the lake were worth it.  Diamond Lake is crystal clear and artfully framed by pines and peaks.  It was definitely worth the trip.

6/4/06 - Eldorado Canyon Trail

Today's hike was the Eldorado Canyon Trail.  While it's close to town and easy to reach, it's not one of my favorite hikes.  It's reasonably exposed a good bit of the way (so definitely not something to start mid-day in the middle of summer) and has a whole lot of "up" right at the beginning. The scenery is also mediocre and it doesn't have a destination, per se.  (I've learned that my husband and I enjoy our hikes more when they end at an obvious destination, like a lake or peak or something.) 

We hiked in about 2.3 miles, parked ourselves for some snacks and a rest at the best vista we'd seen so far, then hiked back out.  Had it not been for the pretty stiff, cool breeze, I think we would've fried.

On a happy note, it's a good think Mike was with me today, otherwise I might have fallen off the mountain (see peril picture below).

5/20/06 - Lily Pad Lakes

Last year, 'round mid-summer, we started an excellent trend of going on a day hike every weekend.  As this summer rolled around, I very much wanted to continue that same trend.  Unlike last year, though, I intend to keep a log of the hikes we do this year.  (Unless a hike is absolutely phenomenal, I don't like repeating it...which is hard to do when I can't always recall which hikes we've done and which we haven't.  Hopefully, this diary will help.)

Our first hike this year was Lily Pad Lakes.  (See Summit County Explorer - Lily Pad Lakes.)  It was a nice starter hike.  It got most of its altitude at the start (or so it felt, at least), then turned into a nice, well-shaded, rolling stroll ending in a couple of pretty lakes.  It doesn't offer very dramatic scenery, but it would be good for families or even out-of-town (flatlander) guests.