I haven’t gotten to hike nearly as much as I would like to this summer. Part of that has to do with Colorado’s summer not really starting until July, but the other part of it is just having a lot going on. Summers are always too short, you know?
I finally had an opportunity to do a new and longer hike. I was even able to get my non hike loving husband to wake up at 4am and join me. We left Colorado Springs around 445am and even with stopping for breakfast (for him) and coffee (duh) we made it to the trail head by 7am.
When we arrived the parking lot was packed. My hear immediately sank. I wasn’t expecting that at all and really thought we would be alone. However, as we gazed at the map I realized all hope of felling alone in the James Peak Wilderness was not lost. There are a ton of trails branching off the trail head and people were pretty well dispersed. While we same some people during our hike, it never felt overcrowded or overly populated.
I had decided to do this hike with my fully packed backpacking backpack because I thought it would be good practice. I wish now we had actually planned to camp because it was so beautiful we didn’t want to leave. The trail was really well marked and easy to follow, even with all the different trails that branch off. The elevation gain isn’t bad at all either. Yeah, there are some parts that are steep and I definitely got tired (especially with 25lbs on my back), but at no point did I feel like I was dying.
This was also one of the most beautiful hike I’ve ever done. There were real rushing waterfalls, tons of wildflowers, and 2 insanely beautiful lakes. We thought there was only one lake, so the 2nd one was a very pleasant surprise. There are several bridge and log crossings, but even with my backpack and both dogs we had no issues. There are definitely some muddy spots, but nothing too terrible. And hey- all the water means beautiful wildflowers so no complaints here.
Oh- Heart Lake really is shaped like a heart. It was beautiful. Even my non hike loving husband was gushing about how beautiful it was. He loved it. It was so much fun to watch him be in awe, he’d never done a hike like this. The only negative to this hike was that at about 2 miles in we started to get torn apart my mosquitoes. Actual clouds of them. If we had had bug repellent I’m sure it would have been fine, but….we forgot it. Still worth it though.
Overall the hike took us about 5 and a half hours, which included stopping to take pictures and swimming in one of the lakes. Ending stats according to my watch were 9.34 miles and 1956ft of elevation gain.
