ExploreTheEast
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- Sep 12, 2003
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I spent this past weekend snowboarding in Summit County, Colorado, getting some last turns in while the conditions were still good. When the snow stopped falling, I decided to hang up the board for the season, and take my new snowshoes for a spin. If you asked me a month ago if I thought I was going to be able to use these puppies this year, I wouldn't have thought it was possible. But 14" of new snow between Thursday morning and Sunday evening covered up what few bare spots that might've appeared, and made for a beautiful Monday hike.
Because it was my first time out on snowshoes, I decided to take a trail I'm a bit familiar with, from Glacier Gorge Junction to Mills Lake. For a late Monday morning, there was a lot of cars parked in the lot, but I only passed a few people on the trail. Everyone had snowshoes or skis, and packs triple the size of mine. This made me a bit worried at first, but I felt confidant enough with the weather, the avalanche danger (or lack thereof), and the trail difficulty to continue anyway.
The hike was just amazing. The trail switches back and forth a few times, brushing up against Glacier Creek, which was mostly frozen over, with a few holes melted through where you could catch a glimpse of the rushing water below. After maybe a mile, I reached a fairly unspectacular Alberta Falls. Usually, the falls are raging like a mini Niagara, but with the Spring melt barely started, it was only a shadow of it's early-summer self.
As you climb out of the Aspen forest, the views just hit you from every direction. It's like you're surrounded by 12 and 13-thousand foot peaks. I couldn't have asked for a deeper blue sky. The trail crosses the creek a few times, and doesn't have more than a couple of steepish sections. Pretty sure there's less than 1000 feet elevation gain the whole way. It's the perfect hike for us sea-level dwellers. My Tubbs Altitudes kept me in a vertical positiion, and the crampon's never slipped on icy spots or sloped trail. I didn't have poles to help keep me up, so I'm thankful that they worked as well as I had hoped. I also had plenty of float to get off the packed trail when I wanted to take photos.
When I reached the lake, around 10,000 feet I think, it was covered with a couple feet of snow, and still mostly frozen. Tracks led around the side, from hikers that had ventured beyond the lake to one of the smaller lakes up above. The wind high above was blowing across the rugged snow-covered peaks surrounding the gorge, creating the illusion that it was flurrying with no snow clouds in sight.
After a short chat with some other hikers, and snapping a couple dozen photos of the lake area, I turned back the way I came. All in all it's about 5 miles round trip.
If anyone's heading out there, the trail should still be covered for the next couple weeks. After that, you get this awkward phase where it's half and half between now and the end of May usually. I'm hoping to go back in the summer sometime, cause I've yet to see Mills Lake completely thawed.
--Mark
Because it was my first time out on snowshoes, I decided to take a trail I'm a bit familiar with, from Glacier Gorge Junction to Mills Lake. For a late Monday morning, there was a lot of cars parked in the lot, but I only passed a few people on the trail. Everyone had snowshoes or skis, and packs triple the size of mine. This made me a bit worried at first, but I felt confidant enough with the weather, the avalanche danger (or lack thereof), and the trail difficulty to continue anyway.
The hike was just amazing. The trail switches back and forth a few times, brushing up against Glacier Creek, which was mostly frozen over, with a few holes melted through where you could catch a glimpse of the rushing water below. After maybe a mile, I reached a fairly unspectacular Alberta Falls. Usually, the falls are raging like a mini Niagara, but with the Spring melt barely started, it was only a shadow of it's early-summer self.
As you climb out of the Aspen forest, the views just hit you from every direction. It's like you're surrounded by 12 and 13-thousand foot peaks. I couldn't have asked for a deeper blue sky. The trail crosses the creek a few times, and doesn't have more than a couple of steepish sections. Pretty sure there's less than 1000 feet elevation gain the whole way. It's the perfect hike for us sea-level dwellers. My Tubbs Altitudes kept me in a vertical positiion, and the crampon's never slipped on icy spots or sloped trail. I didn't have poles to help keep me up, so I'm thankful that they worked as well as I had hoped. I also had plenty of float to get off the packed trail when I wanted to take photos.
When I reached the lake, around 10,000 feet I think, it was covered with a couple feet of snow, and still mostly frozen. Tracks led around the side, from hikers that had ventured beyond the lake to one of the smaller lakes up above. The wind high above was blowing across the rugged snow-covered peaks surrounding the gorge, creating the illusion that it was flurrying with no snow clouds in sight.
After a short chat with some other hikers, and snapping a couple dozen photos of the lake area, I turned back the way I came. All in all it's about 5 miles round trip.
If anyone's heading out there, the trail should still be covered for the next couple weeks. After that, you get this awkward phase where it's half and half between now and the end of May usually. I'm hoping to go back in the summer sometime, cause I've yet to see Mills Lake completely thawed.
--Mark
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