Blue Lakes Hike

Summer is officially here when you can hike the high country again.  A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to do one of my favorite hikes.  Blue lakes is a hike that takes you to just under treeline to a good sized lake surrounded by jagged peaks.  It is a hike well worth the effort.  The first part of the trail climbs and climbs through a series of switchbacks.  We took our time getting up this part as it was in the 80's when we started and we were at about 9000 ft.

There were some nice waterfalls along the way.

Once we got near the top the trail leveled out a bit and the hike became easier.  There were plenty of wildflowers along the way.  There were also several groups of hikers that we encountered.  One of them included a group of campers that were using llamas to pack their gear up the mountain.  Sure was neat to watch them come up the trail.

Once we reached the lake, the view really opened up.

We enjoyed lunch by a waterfall and dipped our feet in the lake's ice cold water.  Sure was a refreshing break after the hard climb up the mountain.

The hike back down the mountainside was much easier even though the lower elevations were much warmer.  We took far fewer breaks, though occasionally had to stop to cool down in the shade for a few minutes at a time.   It was a nice long hike through some old forest and we couldn't help but notice how large some of the trees were on the way back down.  I was thankful for their shade.  All in all it was a day well spent and a beautiful day for a hike.