Pretty mellow multi use trail along Gore Creek in Vail, Colorado. Slight decent heading west from the Ritz-Carlton and slight assent heading back. A great morning wake me up. You can go much further than we did, but we had to turn around for an appointment.
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The flowers, the creek that serves as your companion along most of the hike, and then... the magnificent lake at the end... all combine for a first-rate hiking experience.
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The beginning is a bit unrewarding, with non-covered trail overlooking the highway followed by a moderate incline. However, once you get to the wooded area, it is a spectacular hike and the view at the lakes is a perfect reward.
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Very scenic trail, especially through the Alpine Tundra and higher elevations. The view at 13K feet is amazing!
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Very windy above treeline. Needed my smartwool layer the entire time. Beautiful views all around. The first mile is probably the most difficult. Once you get over the first hill of switchbacks, its gentle up and down. Stanley mountain doesn't have a sign, but there is a rock pile and pole on top of it to the left of the trail.
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Very peaceful., didn't see another person. Tons of bear scat on the ascent though.
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3 beautiful lakes! First 2 lakes are on trail, 3rd is a fairly easy class 2+ off trail route. The trail goes all the way to the far end of the 2nd Savage lake, and it would be easiest to ascend in that area where we descended. There are some cliff bands to work your way around but the lakes and waterfalls are worth the effort! The 3rd lake is just at tree line with sweeping views. Once again, the Holy Cross Wildnerness did not disappoint.
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Very nice hike. Lots of different ecosystems to hike through. Long day, but the gain is pretty gentle and spread out. Some bugs around the lakes, but otherwise was fine. Had to traverse some snow and ten mile creek, which was a little tricky.
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There are some steep sections as you gain about 2300’ in 4 miles. The wildflowers were abundant and the scenery kept changing from dense foliage to piney to alpine, with a couple of beautiful meadows along the way. At the end, the drop into the lake was very steep. The lake was gorgeous, holding ice in late July, with trees on one side and rocks on the other. It looked like it would be a great place to camp!
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Beautiful! The falls are absolutely amazing. Hike is easy and well maintained trails.
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Mad snow cover was pretty awesome.. views from all over the hike were absolutely gorgeous! Glissading on the way down was an added benefit
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Started at 6:45 am at the 4wd trailhead and followed a beautiful recently repaired/constructed trail through aspen forest to the music of chirping birds. Crossed one short (100 ft) snow field at 12,000 ft just below tree line and a much longer one (1000 ft) from 13,600 to 13,800 ft.Took 4 hours to climb, arrived to meet 100 others who were equally joyful to have reached the summit.
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Fun in-and-out hike with plenty of shade most the way. Be cautious early morning / late-evening of the few massive moose in the area.
And as of 6.17.19, getting across the creek is sketchy due to a forest blowdown from a massive avalanche. Doable, but takes some time crawling over trees and other debris.
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We hiked to the base spoils of the nine but did not climb the trail through the spoils, lots of loose rock. Views are spectacular at the mine!
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We hike to the terminus of the new slide inFrisco, Colorado. We had to bushwhack quite a bit, but the view was fabulous.
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Fun trip with the whole family. Pretty intense for just about all of us.
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Great hike with moderate vertical, nice creek and high ridge-line with great views.
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July 1 2019 - tons of snow up there still. Gorgeous views of Arastra Gulch, Silver Lake Basin, Kendall Mountain, etc. Stopped at the first stream crossing due to thin snow bridge across it. Several downed trees covering the trail on the north side that we had to navigate.
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Gaia trail map took us to 10,600, 800ft below summit. Had we followed National Geographic Dillon map, would have followed trail 9509 to summit (or 9511). Little water along trail. Amazing views across Dillon Lake to TenMile range and Gore Range. This trip about 8.5 miles, 4:45hrs, 1450 elevation. Next time to summit! Hiked with Dave, Dave, John, Rick, daisy and Kermit.
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Started at the Trailhead around 4:30. Rain turned to snow around 11,800. Upper ridge had gusts up to 30 mph. All this and I still got it. What a rewarding challenge.
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Beautiful views and not too difficult of a hike with the grade being not too steep.
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Easy hike to a beautiful alpine lake. Most of the elevation gain comes at the end of the hike. Our family did this in deep snow over Memorial Day weekend and had a great time! Luckily most of the trail had been broken, but still had some areas of post-holing (GAIA app was helpful as there were multiple trails in the snow). Ate lunch at the snow covered lake.
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Great snowshoe hike. Can be windy but very calm the day we went.
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The first half mile has continual traffic noise from nearby I-70. After that it is a very pretty trail.
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Beautiful, easy hike. So quiet and beautiful in the winter.
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This is a relatively short but strenuous hike, but worth every mile! Hiking in late October will have a lot fewer hikers, but expect cooler temperatures and patches of snow and ice. The majority of the trail was clear, but the last switchbacks up to the lake were snow covered and I broke trail through about a foot of snow. Some sort of ice grippers on your hiking shoes are required as well as hiking poles for that stretch. I had Stabilicers and poles. I took a leisurely pace up and took photos, so it was about 2 hours up to the lake. I got chased back down by a small snow squall, so that took about an hour and 40 minutes down.
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We had some small children and this was a nice hike to take them on. There were easy sections and ones that challenged them. Awesome views!
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My wife and I hiked Mt. Elbert on July 10th, 2018. Not being from the area, we got an early start at 5:20 AM after camping just down the road. The trail was clear and even in the dawn light headlamps were not needed. After breaking through the treeline, we started to slow as the altitude got to us. The trail is not as well marked in two locations where scrambling is necessary, so it was helpful to have the GPS. Once on the ridge, the trail levels out a little for the final approach to the summit. Overall, it was a great experience, and one of the best hikes I have ever completed.
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This is a great through hike. We started in Frisco and caught the free Summit Stage bus to Copper Mountain. The hike starts there and you hike back to Frisco over Uneva Pass and through some nice high country. Very nice trail. Some fall aspen colors at the beginning and end of the hike. The hike ended up being a total of nearly 14 miles. So it can be a longer day.
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