Boulders and Valleys

I arrived at the Echo Lake parking area, this past spring, a little before 7:30 am. The plan was to hike the Chicago Lakes trail part of the way to the first lake and then depart the trail once I arrived at what I like to call the “dead tree” zone which is really an old burn area. From there I would head west, continuing up the hill to a higher valley that sits next to the Chicago Lakes valley. My plan was to follow the ridge on the east side of the valley to avoid as many of the willows as possible. I was also worried a bit about snow based on recent hiking reports and the snow I saw driving up Squaw Pass that morning.

The weather was perfect, just warm enough, for me at least, to hike in only a t-shirt and shorts. I hadn’t hiked this route in several years and noticed there had been a lot of updates to the start of the trail and the area around Echo Lake. This area has a lot of visitors so it was nice to see the modifications to better handle those visitors. There had also been changes to the intersection of the Chicago Lakes trailhead so it was a bit more obvious. I had wanted to start early to avoid the crowds and I achieved that. When I headed out their were only a few cars in the lot and one couple and a fisherman on the first part of the trail.

This is one of those odd hikes that goes downhill at the start (well, almost the start). You have to descend from Echo Lake to the Chicago Creek valley floor. Here you cross Chicago Creek, intersect a 4 wheel drive road and start climbing up the valley.

The trail, as it descends into the valley is very narrow in places with some decent exposure. Nothing terribly frightening but it gets your attention. It is a fairly gradual decent until the last section where you enter a wooded area that includes several switchbacks and large boulders. This section has several flooded areas to avoid and after that, you finally reach Chicago Creek. A log bridge makes for an easy crossing and another hundred feet or so brings you to the road. Make a left and proceed up the valley!

There is probably a half mile or so of steady climbing to the first real point of interest which is Idaho Springs Reservoir. This is one of the water supplies for the town of Idaho Springs so there are signs around the lake that state what you can and can’t do in the area.

If you cross the spillway bridge and walk to the opposite side of the dam, as I did, you will find great views of the lake with Mt. Evans in the background. Always a sight to see and especially beautiful this early in the morning. I took several pictures here and rested a bit before proceeding on.

From the dam, the road travels along the west side of the lake. There are several points where large puddles can swallow the entire road and make it difficult to get around. Thankfully the puddles weren’t quite that big today and were easy to negotiate without getting too muddy. A lot of folks will stop and fish along this shore although I have no idea if it is the fishing or the beauty that brings them here. Probably both.

At the end of the lake are two cabins. The first one is a log cabin that is well cared for. Neat and tidy with a covered porch on the back. It would be a great place to sit with a cup of coffee and listen to the nearby creek and watch the wind ripple the surface of the lake. The second cabin is more of a “temporary” style building and it hasn’t had as much love as the log cabin. Chicago Creek flows behind both cabins before entering the lake.

The road ends at this point and the hiking trail starts again. There is a sign-in box here and a little ways up the trail are the Mt Evans wilderness area signs. The trail starts up at a pretty steep grade and after a bit it flattens out by a meadow and then proceeds up some more steep and rocky sections. There are water crossings here and there. In some places the water flows down the path and you have to walk through it while other places have stepping stones or logs that can keep you dryer or wetter depending on your balance and jumping ability.

The water is high this time of year which made a few crossings interesting. All the while the trail is climbing the west side of the valley. A high point is met when you enter an area where all the trees have died, my dead tree zone. The trees are dead but the flowers and grasses flourish here. This is where I head off the trail and make my way farther up the side of the valley.

I selected this point to head off the trail because it is mostly meadow which is better to hike through than the underbrush and bushes that are along most of the trail. There was a 400 acre fire here back in 1978 that created this meadow. Since then the weather has sharpened and smoothed may of the dead trees, much like what sand does over time. A beautiful area that reminds one that nature does continue even after the devastation of fire. 

The other reason for selecting this location is that it leads right to the mouth of the upper valley that I wanted to explore. The challenge was selecting a semi direct path through the trees that didn’t have me climbing over, under or around too many of them due to those sharp branches I mentioned earlier. The branches that you never seem to notice but always poke your leg or arm or other tender locations. 

The trees finally subsided as I reached the head of the valley. This is a shallow valley with a low hill on the left and higher peaks on the right. A lot of the valley is filled with willows which are bushes that can grow up to about six feet in height. You can work your way through them but they can cut you up pretty well if you aren’t protected. I was in shorts and a t-shirt, as I mentioned, so of course they cut me up pretty well, when I couldn’t avoid them.

My plan was to avoid them of course and to do that I had laid out a route that included climbing up the low left side of the valley and making my way along its ridge to the lakes I wanted to reach. Good plan but first I had to find a way through a small section of those willows and cross a tiny stream. Oh, and avoid the snow fields that dotted the sides of the valley and still covered much of its center.

I have to thank the elk, bighorn and mountain goats that live in the area for cutting a semi nice path towards the direction I was headed. Nothing like a handy game trail! 

I wound my way through the willows, passed through several open sections and reached the stream I needed to cross. There was a big boulder on the right on my side of the stream with a fairly open area on the other. There was a little waterfall by the bolder as the ground dropped near it. The stream was only a couple of feet wide but deep and the opposite side didn’t look very solid right next to the stream. Hmmm, a workable crossing but maybe there was something better.

I headed upstream a bit and found another game trail that crossed the stream. This looked a little better but it had been used so much the opposite bank had been worn away to the point of actually widening the stream. The problem was, that wide spot was the only area that didn’t have willows. In the end, I went back to the boulder and crossed there with little drama.

Next was the climb up the left ridge. This was a steep slope of mid sized rocks mixed with tundra. The rocks were solid and didn’t move much so it wasn’t too bad of a climb up to a small group of trees and once through those I was on grass mixed with boulders and a great view of the small valley I was exploring on the right and the Chicago Lakes valley on the left.

I made my way up the ridge until it dropped down to the valley floor and then went up again. This proved to be interesting as I had to work my way down across some rather large boulders, and find my way around or through several snow fields. After some back tracking and several false starts, I eventually found my way through and proceeded on. After probably another third of a mile of hiking I finally caught sight of the first lake, pond really. Again, I had to work my way through some large boulders to reach the valley floor and make my way to the lake. What a beautiful area!

While admiring the view, I noticed off in the distance a lone boulder that was composed of several colors. It looked interesting but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hike over to it as it was on the opposite side of the valley. After a little internal debate, I headed towards the boulder and upon arriving discovered another lake that I hadn’t been expecting. This one was even more beautiful than the last. I ended up relaxing here for a while and ate lunch. This was a place I could have settled down for several hours and just listened to the wind and the water.

After an enjoyable lunch, it was time to start heading back just in case thunderstorms decided to roll in. I decided to cross the valley and intersect the ridge farther down than I had before. I felt I could do this after seeing there were some “avenues” through the willows.

After reaching the ridge, I made my way back retracing my way along the ridge, across the stream, down through the burn area finally reaching the path where I had first left it. From here it was a several mile hike back the way I had come finally reaching the car and feeling good about a great hike and exploring a place where few others had traveled. What a blessing it is to have our wilderness areas and be able to explore them and see and hear nature as only one can when man has left no trace on it.