Colorado lakes are
great hiking destinations
Are you looking for Colorado lakes to hike to? If so, you've come to the right place. I'll tell you where to find them as well as directions on how to reach each trailhead. Then I'll also tell you how long each trail is, as well as what you might expect to see on your way to each lake.
Some of these lakes require a fee in order to be seen, but others can be seen for free. I'll be telling you about both kinds here but for the ones that do require a fee, I'll tell you what the amount is so you can decide ahead of time, what you'd like to do.
So, are you ready for a hike? If you are, then I'll start you off at Rocky Mountain National Park. There are a lot of beautiful lakes up there and they're well worth hiking to. Bring a picnic! The trails that you'll see here range in difficulty from easy to moderate, so you'll probably be able to see as many of these mountain lakes as you want...assuming you have the time!
O.K., if you're ready, then click here to see my Rocky Mountain trails page. Don't forget to bring your camera as well as a picnic!
Would you like to see a Colorado lake that looks as though it came out of a fairy tale? If so, then you should make the hike to Hanging Lake. It is a beautiful blue-green, clear lake with a waterfall that tumbles into it. Although the trail to the lake is a little steep, it's definitely worth your time!
How would you like to see a lake and the glacier that it spills from? Now that’s something you don’t see every day! If you’d like to go see it, then please visit my page on St. Mary's Glacier.
The following hike is located near Pagosa Springs and is one of many more Colorado lakes that I hope to add to this page. Enjoy :-).
Opal Lake
One-way distance: 1.2 miles
Difficulty level: moderate
Approximate one-way hiking time: 45 minutes;
Dog friendly: yes
Entrance fee: no
Restroom facilities: no
Elevation: 8,600 feet at the lake
Directions to Opal Lake trailhead: in Pagosa Springs, travel east on Hwy 160 for a short distance outside of town, and turn right, (south), onto Hwy. 84. From there, go about 8 miles and turn left onto Blanco Basin Road. (Blanco Basin Rd. is also County Rd. 326.) Next, go about 10 more miles and turn right across the Blanco River bridge. From here, just follow the signs for the Opal Lake trail until you reach the trailhead on the right side of the road.
You’ll see the small, dirt parking area, and it only holds maybe six or seven cars. So the sooner you can get there, the better. And actually, whether you’re hiking to Colorado lakes, waterfalls, or anyplace else in Colorado, it’s usually better to do it in the morning so you avoid the afternoon thunderstorms that often roll in.
Anyway, the hike to Opal Lake starts out through a thick pine forest and continues through it for at least half of the hike. After that, you leave the pine forest and enter an aspen forest. Before long, the trail starts to open up but there are still lots of aspen trees all around you. As you see, this would make a great fall color hike.
The next thing you’ll come to is a somewhat tricky stream crossing. You can either walk through the shallower parts of it, like we did. Or if you have good balance, you can walk along a fairly large tree trunk that had branches sticking out of it. The lake is just a short distance beyond this point and there are lots more aspen trees all around it.
Surprise Lake
One-way distance: 2.6 miles
Difficulty level: moderate to difficult;
Approximate one-way hiking time: 2 hours;
Dog friendly: yes, but must be leashed;
Entrance fee: $5.00 in 2009
Restroom facilities: no
Elevation: 10,085 feet at the lake
Directions to Surprise Lake trailhead: from the Denver area, follow I-70 west to exit 205 at Silverthorne. Take exit 205 and follow Hwy. 9 north. After about 16 miles, turn left onto Heeney Road 30. (Shortly before this road, you’ll see the sign for Heeney and Green Mountain Reservoir.) Continue on Heeney Rd. 30 for about 5.3 miles, then make a sharp left turn onto Cataract Creek Rd. Follow this dirt road to the Surprise Lake trailhead on your left.
O.K., one little useful note here before I tell you about the hike; although there is no restroom at this trailhead, there’s an outhouse a short distance away. Just keep following Cataract Creek Rd. to the end of the road and park in the parking area on the side of the road. The outhouse is just beyond the end of the road, heading towards Lower Cataract Lake.
Now that’s out of the way, I can tell you about another of the many Colorado lakes you can hike to. So, the hike to Surprise Lake starts out by crossing the bridge over Cataract Creek. Then you’ll start going steadily up, and along the way, you’ll see lots of aspen trees along the bottom half of this trail.
Soon the trail will start getting steep, and it pretty much stays that way most of the way up except for a few spots where the trail to this Colorado lake is more level. After the aspen forest, you’ll be hiking through a pine forest, and along the way, you’ll have to cross about four different creeks without bridges. Hiking sticks make the crossings a little easier.
Towards the end of the hike, you’ll reach an intersection with the Gore Range trail. Turn right onto the Gore Range trail and follow it for a short distance to Surprise Lake, which will be on your left. Of the many hikes to Colorado lakes on this site, this is one of the steepest, so make sure you bring plenty of water.
Also, in case you were wondering, the haze in the above picture of Surprise Lake was due to smoke from a very large fire that was burning in California on that day. It's amazing that it could drift that far, but it did!
I'll be adding more Colorado lake hikes from time to time, so check back every once in a while. In the meantime, enjoy the sparkling mountain lakes that you see here.
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