Lost Lake
I took the day off work to hike with Katie. She already had the day off, but it was only one of a few 3-day weeks she gets so we wanted to make the best of it. We wanted to go camping, but we had a wedding to go to on Sunday night, which took up one of our weekend days. So with Saturday dedicated to chores and Sunday dedicated to the wedding, we spent Monday hiking.
We choose to do Lost Lake which starts at the Hessie Trailhead. Since it was a weekday, parking was easy. On the weekends you have to take a shuttle, assuming you can get a parking spot where the shuttle picks you up. Not only was getting to the trailhead easier on a weekday, but the trail wasn't nearly as busy as it would have been on a weekend. So overall, this was a good hike to have chosen for a weekday since we rarely hike on weekdays.
This area had lots of wildflowers. Wildflowers were the focus of this hike just like all the other recent hikes we've been on. The lake itself that we got to was nice and a good place to rest with decent views, but the abundance of wildflowers was what we were after, and the hike delivered.
4.98 mi
3.4 hrs
9,780 ft
1,096 ft
Small Lake
At the beginning of the trail there was a small lake, probably something that dries up later in the supper and is only there in the spring time. It was pretty still.
Wild Butterfly
It's hard to capture photos of butterflies in nature. They're moving so fast that I never have enough time to take a photo before they're too far away. But this one stayed just long enough for me to get 3 photos of it, and this was the only one in focus.
This butterfly was on a Larkspur Flower.
Delicious Raspberry
This is a Delicious Raspberry shrub.
Cascades
We hiked along the South Fork Middle Boulder Creek for most of the hike. There were a few sections where there were cascades. The water was flowing fast.
Top of the Cascades
Two Webs
I found this perfect spiderweb in great lighting to get a shot of it. bonus spiderweb to the left.
Lost Lake
We made it to Lost Lake and found a nice rock to sit on and rest for a little bit. it was too early for lunch, but we had some peanut butter and jelly wraps for nutrition.
Left Behind
Katie is lying on the rock in the middle of the lake. i left here there while I walked around the entire lake.
White Marsh Marigold
There's always an abundance of Marsh Marigold's near water sources.
Globeflower
This is an American Globeflower, a type of buttercup.
Indian Paintbrush
The Indian Paintbrush was just barely starting in this area. I can't wait to find more!
Bearing Tree
I found a Bearing Tree. Not knowing what it was, I took a few photos and went on my way. This Bearing Tree marker, placed in September of 1979, is a survey marker indicating the corner of some kind of plot. That plot might have been someone's property or the boundary between national forest or was even used to mark state lines (which isn't applicable for this one). The location of the corner for the survey isn't at the location of the tree, instead this marker tells you how far away and in what direction the corner is. It's an interesting piece of history.
Off the Trail
This Bearing Tree marker was right off the side of the trail. It was easy to spot and with Katie going slow I decided to stop and take a look. Bearing Trees, noting a corner of a property line date back to the 1800's where they would burn the tree, strip it of it's bark, and carve the survey information into the tree trunk. This one isn't quite that old (obviously), but it was fun to learn some history on surveying from this hike.
Golden Banner
There was a lot of Golden Banner in this area, blanketing certain areas in a golden yellow.
