For being as close to Telluride, I had never been. From the map and the descriptions it looked amazing. It is a realitivly short hike but with 2400 feet of elevation gain. We have not been backpacking for several years (Valentino and Smokie's first time), so we knew it would be "up".
To get there from Ski Ranches, the shortest route is over the 4-wheel road Ophir Pass. Another first for me, Mary Dawn had down this route before.
The first couple of photos were of trip over Ophir Pass. It is the easiest of the 4-wheel roads into Telluride.
We did a quick stop in to Silverton, and the we drove to Clear Lake Trail Head. I had been by here when I had done the Colorado Trail, gosh ~15 Years back.
Lots, and lots of vehicles at the trailhead. Which was expected. We loaded up, put Smokie's pack on and headed up the trail.
The trail switch backs up Clear Creek, then turns left across a meadow.
Then a non-stop climb up to Lower Ice Lake basin. We had lunch there. The boys got their normal chicken necks for lunch.
We pass thru the "corn field", and rested before the last climb up in the Ice Lake Basin. The trail here as a little bit of exposure, nothing serious, but we were watchful for the dogs getting to close to the edge.
Once we got up on top, we were treated to the most stunning blue lakes I have ever seen. And I have seen quite a few alpine lakes, but Ice Lake was amazing. The sky and the lake where the same shade of blue.
Speaking of the sky, that weekend weather was incredible. Not a cloud in the sky. You have to understand that August is monsoon season. It typically rains for a bit in the afternoon. Not this weekend.
The wildflowers were incredible!
We scouted around for a spot to set up camp. Found one, setup the Walrus tent, and then went exploring around Ice Lake Basin. Our destination was Fuller Lake. We rested there for a bit, and headed back for dinner.
Dinner:
The pups were so tired. Big day for them.
Went to bed early, during the middle of the night, the dogs started to bark, so into our tent they came. A bit cramped, but it made it warmer. :) Maybe they were barking at the Alpine "elves"
The next morning we did our chores, packed up, and went for a small day hike up to some of the Upper Ice Lakes.
Nice hair!
We both had full weeks the next week, so we headed back down to the truck. Mary Dawn was a bit sore in the shoulders, we might need to invest in a backpack for her next time.
Overall it was a GREAT, AMAZING trip.
There is "a few" more photos that are interesting if you want to dig deeper.
As usual for the full slideshow, you click on on the photo below to start the slideshow. Enjoy.
[note: there is 86 photos here, you can use the arrow keys to advance, or if you hover over the slideshow, you can advance thru the thumbnails. If you want to view it full screen click on the icon in bottom right.]
If you want to see some of the descriptions that go with the pictures, click here.
For the map of the geo tagged photos click here.
Other photos can be found here. www.michaelmowerymedia.com
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5 comments:
That's awesome!!! Looks like a wonderful hike. I think the dogs enjoyed it.
Great pictures--the flowers are spectacular not to mention the people and dogs!
It was certainly interesting for me to read the post. Thank author for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.
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