Colorado's San Juan Mountains, An epic backpacking weekend (hiking Colorado's most scenic trails)
The San Juan Mountains, Southern Colorado
An epic backpacking weekend for the books
(hiking some of Colorado's most scenic trails)
Hike List:
-Bridal Veil Falls located in Telluride, Colorado
-Blue Lakes, Ouray, Colorado
-Ice Lakes Basin, Ophir, Colorado
Bridal Veil Falls, Telluride, Colorado
Blue Lakes, Ouray, Colorado
Ice Lakes Basin, Ophir, Colorado
There’s something incredibly special about southern Colorado in the San Juan wilderness, it is perhaps the most scenic part of our entire state and in my opinion my favorite area to hike in Colorado. Appropriately named little Switzerland… The mountain ranges wrap all around you in 360° and it’s like something I’ve never seen or experienced before being from Cleveland, Ohio.
We headed down to southern Colorado to celebrate a few birthdays (including my amazing girlfriend’s bday) and we had plans to hike some of Colorado’s most scenic trails. Our weekend began in the town of Telluride where we hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls (see all trails above) a switchbacking hike that leads to a super popular 365 ft waterfall. We started early and we were lucky to grab a parking spot at the actual trailhead - as we hiked down we passed dozens of day hikers heading up to see the waterfall along with a very full and overflowing parking lot when we returned to the base of the hike. This hike climbs 1,368 vertical feet through the treeline and takes you past the base of pumping falls and all the way up a (service road) to the venue at the top of the valley edge. The views from the top were exceptional, we took a few group shots and hiked back down into Telluride, Colorado to grab some brunch and cheers our birthday girl over some flourless Chocolate cake. The next day we planned to head over to the Blue Lakes trailhead and backpack up to the lake for a night in the Mt. Sneffels wilderness
Okay, here is my entry about hiking up to Blue Lakes in the Mount Sneffles Wilderness. For a while, I had been scared and maybe scared isn’t the right word but intimidated to go on my first backpacking trip but once it was finally planned there was no turning back. This was set to be my first backpacking trip ever, I had hiked up to Blue Lakes before but not with this much gear on my back. We arrived at the parking lot early because from our reading and my prior experience hiking this area I knew that this is trailhead would be extremely busy especially around the 4th of July. There were seven of us total and all of us had large backpacks on with the exception of Calvin who knew how to pack appropriately for one night in this wilderness zone. I am notorious for overpacking and I found it especially challenging to pack everything I needed for backcountry survival and also to bring my camera kit along I could tell (prior to the hike) that my shoulders and back we’re going to be sore after hiking up to Blue Lakes. We started up the trail in two groups we sent our stronger hikers ahead to (hopefully) secure a solid campground in a quiet spot next to one of the most beautiful lakes in all of Colorado. It was a pretty challenging hike and a good starter place for me to have a real appreciation for backpacking and how much effort and calories it takes when you are doing even a smaller vertical hike. This trail switchbacks through some really lush and beautiful Aspen areas and climbs 2,519 vertical feet and to reach the first Blue Lake it will take you about 3.9 miles. We were so relieved that our stronger hiking group had secured some really nice camping areas for our first backpacking night of the weekend. We all took some time to set up our camps, captured plenty of photos of the Gatorade Blue Lake and a few brave members of our group decided to take a polar plunge and dive into the lower Blue Lake. An afternoon rainstorm rolled in so we climbed in our tent for a brief nap listening to the summer rain fall peacefully outside our tent. We made a plan to continue hiking around sunset up towards the second Blue Lake and to get a better photo vantage point for sunset, some of our crew brought pizza, we all brought smiles as we took countless photos and we were in complete awe at the scenery that surrounded us. The first Blue Lake is extremely impressive however the views only get better as you climb higher and higher and the view gets even more exceptional if you were to make it to the top of the ridge-line.
Check out Calvin‘s video here from our weekend in the southern Colorado mountain ranges:
As we down hiked from the second Blue Lake area a rainbow erupt in the sky and we continued to watch the sun’s golden glow disappear as we settled back into our camps, made dinner and we chat, and laughed about all the fun memories from the day. This was an exceptional first backpacking trip for me and I can’t thank Ashley enough for inviting me along to join her, her brother and her adventure crew for this amazing weekend. We climbed into our tents and I set my alarm to make sure I would wake up early for some sunrise light. Sunrise was amazing and although there weren’t any clouds in the sky I still took some really nice fine art and landscape images… I’m glad I woke up early for sunrise but I was forced to climb back into my tent and sleep for a couple hours until we packed up and made our way back down to the parking lot to begin the second half of our adventure which was to head over to the Ice Lakes Basin area.
Heading up to Blue Lakes #2, Mt. Sneffels Wilderness, Colorado
It was another big hike to get back to the car in the parking lot and I know that I’ll be sure to ensure that my pack weighs less for my next backpacking adventure. I was really impressed with the Osprey Atmos 65 L backpack You can check out the backpack I’m using here, I also use these little modules to hold my camera gear when I’m not bringing a camera backpack. We split again into two groups and one group went ahead to get a campsite at the ice Lakes Trailhead area, we took our time driving down the million dollar highway and stopping for lunch in Ouray, Colorado. We purchased some groceries and re-upped on plenty of water and made our way to the next campsite for the night, our plan was to camp close to the ice Lakes Trailhead and we were aware of some dispersed camping along the road that leads to the ice Lakes Trailhead. It can be a significant advantage to get to the trailhead early so we knew if we camped just up the street we would also be able to hit the trail early and make the most of our time exploring some of Colorado’s most incredible Alpine Lakes. We spent the afternoon and the evening grilling food, drinking lukewarm craft beer and laughing at each other‘s jokes… We even brought a chocolate cake out to celebrate another birthday in the backcountry. We made a plan for the morning and took a look at the route (Ice Lakes Basin) countless times before settling into bed. our legs and back felt sore from down hiking earlier in the day but there was no time for that as our plan was to get after another challenging loop the following day and climb 3,113 vertical feet and hike a total of 8.7 miles.
CAPTURED IN 2018 OURAY, COLORADO | FOLLOW ALONG ALL MY ADVENTURES ON IG: @FR33WATER
We woke up to some freezing cold temperatures for July - we were camping at elevation and I wasn’t surprised that we could see our breath and I had to use our little propane heater to warm us all up in the morning. We made tea, coffee, oatmeal and got some breakfast in us and decided to head over to the trailhead around 6:35am to begin hiking to Island Lake and then traverse over to Ice Lakes through the Ice Lake Basin loop. This hike switchbacks and climbs aggressively over 1700 vertical feet until you reach the edge of Island Lake. It’s hard for me to describe just how beautiful these lakes are so I’ll let some of the photography (and Calvin’s video above) speak for natural color and pristine area that makes up the Ice Lakes Basin — here’s a look at Island Lakes and Ice Lakes (below). A couple of us swam in the bright blue lakes and one of us trailran to the top of the ridge line to check out the view from above. All around when it comes to scenery and landscapes.. Blue Lakes and Ice Lakes Basin would have to be two of the most scenic and beautiful hikes I’ve ever done in the state of Colorado
(and I’ve hit quite a few hikes in almost 10 years here).
Exploring both of these lakes takes a solid part of the day and it’s a big hike but we had such an epic group, so the journey never felt long in fact I never wanted it to end. Hiking in this area was truly exceptional and if you’ve never been to the San Juans to backpack or day hike I highly recommend planning a trip before summer is up. Be prepared with a bear can/bear bag in both these areas and do your research before heading out on any day hikes or backpacking trips mentioned in this blog post. I’m lucky to have been surrounded by a crew of avid hikers and explorers making much our trip rather flawless - I learned a lot about backpacking and it was really cool to experience backpacker life for a night. I’m typically a day hiker (carrying lots of camera gear) and I had to learn to leave behind a lot of gear and only bring the things that were most crucial - when you’re packing for a backpacking trip the camera gear quickly becomes less and less important as you count your weight. Also, if you backpack with your camera gear - not only do I feel your pain - but you’re a complete badass because it’s super challenging to lug extra weight up the side of a mountain along with all your camping essentials.
OUR FINAL NIGHT OF THE TRIP, CAMPING OUTSIDE BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK | SUNSET VIEWS BE LIKE… VIEW MORE ON IG: @FR33WATER
For our last night of car camping, we drove over to an area just outside Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - we made it just in time to watch this incredible sunset at their notorious lookout appropriately named “Sunset View” an epic finish to a kickass weekend hiking in the San Juans.
In summary, when I first took a look at this collection of hikes I was pretty intimidated by how much distance and vertical feet we were going to cover in one weekend... however, we had a really solid crew of non-beginner hikers which gave us the ability to rally together and crush out all these hikes. I would not recommend trying to do all these hikes in one weekend if you are visiting from out of state or consider yourself to be a beginner hiker. There were a few tools we had with us that I thought were absolutely essential including a water filtration system so that you don’t have to carry tons of water with you but you’re also able to refill your water bottle every time you pass an alpine lake or some steady moving Alpine rivers. Another tool we used all the time would be Ashley’s AllTrails App ... we made sure to download all the maps before heading down to these areas and I was also quite aware that the trailheads do not have ample cell service so be sure to do your research and download your maps the night before you head out on these hikes. Ice Lakes Basin loop was a bit more challenging to navigate in comparison to Blue Lakes Trail - this is why I recommend being prepared with the AllTrails app. It can be really easy to get off the trail and head the wrong direction for a few miles so we made sure to continually check the app and make sure we were headed in the right direction (especially with heavy backpacks on). I think that these hikes are very attainable by most people my biggest piece of advice would be to do your research and do a few hikes closer to home to prepare and train a little before doing this entire circuit of hiking in one weekend. My other big note is that these are some of Colorado‘s most scenic trails so let’s please be sure to do our best to protect them, keep them safe and look out for one another when we are out there enjoying Colorado’s backcountry in the San Juan mountain range. If you have any questions about the backpacking trips or the hikes I’ve mentioned in this blog post feel free to leave me a question and a comment section below the blog and I’ll get back to you soon or feel free to find me, give me a follow and check me out on Instagram: @fr33water ... thank you so much for taking the time to read about my recent adventures I hope to do more of these blog posts soon where I break down some of my favorite hikes, backpacking trips and adventures that I have been checking out here in the beautiful state of Colorado.
Essential gear list (coming soon):
—Water Filter
—All Trails App (download maps the night before)
—Peanut Butter and Jellies x 2-3
—Nut Butter
—Honey Stinger Waffles x 10 (their so damn good)
—Clif Bars
—Plenty of Water
—Camera
—Epic Hiking Crew
—Bear Can or Bear Bag (if you plan to camp up at Blue Lakes #1)
