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| Last year Independence Lake |
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| This year Independence Lake |
10.2 miles
7 hr 45 mins
11,512 feet starting elevation highest point 13,000 feet
Feet up 4,104 feet down 4,144
Total miles 58.2
Today we are hiking another repeat. Last year when we visited, it was a winter wonderland! As a quick reminder we found Independence Lake and Lost mans Lake frozen. We also found a very disappointed fisherman standing with his pole looking longingly at the frozen lake. We spent so much time trying to figure out where the trail was as we could only see bits and pieces melted out of the snow. We would go up and over the snow get to the melted out spots, walk that to the next snowfield cross it towards were we think the trail might be headed and stand there until we could sight the next melted out spot. We were very fortunate to find a group of hikers at the pass who had a GPS with the trails preloaded. With that little gadget we were able to walk though the winter wonderland criss crossing the snow fields without issue.
This year no snow. That is great, but when you have no snow to stop for, the hike feels much different. Holy cow, we started hiking at 11,500 feet and go up to 13,000 the air feels a bit thinner. It took us about a hour and twenty minutes to get to the top of the pass. All along the hike we go through some wet areas and the smells are very fragrant. Certainly not something I would want to spray on in the morning, but most definitely something that was flowery. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was the plant or flower that was so fragrant.
We followed two people up to the lake who were aiming to do some fishing. We did get to see them fly fish at Independence Lake. One of them had their line in the water very quickly and the other one has futzing with the pole. To bad there was not more action as watching someone fly fish is fun to watch.
Just over the pass we stop for a little snack and to put on some warmer clothes. It was a bit chilly at 45 degrees at the top. Last time through this area we boot skied down to the next lake. This time we took the trail, skiing is faster and more fun.
7 hr 45 mins
11,512 feet starting elevation highest point 13,000 feet
Feet up 4,104 feet down 4,144
Total miles 58.2
Today we are hiking another repeat. Last year when we visited, it was a winter wonderland! As a quick reminder we found Independence Lake and Lost mans Lake frozen. We also found a very disappointed fisherman standing with his pole looking longingly at the frozen lake. We spent so much time trying to figure out where the trail was as we could only see bits and pieces melted out of the snow. We would go up and over the snow get to the melted out spots, walk that to the next snowfield cross it towards were we think the trail might be headed and stand there until we could sight the next melted out spot. We were very fortunate to find a group of hikers at the pass who had a GPS with the trails preloaded. With that little gadget we were able to walk though the winter wonderland criss crossing the snow fields without issue.
This year no snow. That is great, but when you have no snow to stop for, the hike feels much different. Holy cow, we started hiking at 11,500 feet and go up to 13,000 the air feels a bit thinner. It took us about a hour and twenty minutes to get to the top of the pass. All along the hike we go through some wet areas and the smells are very fragrant. Certainly not something I would want to spray on in the morning, but most definitely something that was flowery. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was the plant or flower that was so fragrant.
We followed two people up to the lake who were aiming to do some fishing. We did get to see them fly fish at Independence Lake. One of them had their line in the water very quickly and the other one has futzing with the pole. To bad there was not more action as watching someone fly fish is fun to watch.
Just over the pass we stop for a little snack and to put on some warmer clothes. It was a bit chilly at 45 degrees at the top. Last time through this area we boot skied down to the next lake. This time we took the trail, skiing is faster and more fun.
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| Lost Man Lake Frozen over. We boot skied down the snow |
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| Lost Man Lake is open this year. We are dressed warm as it was 36 degress at the pass |
This back side of the pass is much greener. The basin is wonderful. As we step down through this basin we find that it is much wetter with a lot of mud. In the mud every once in awhile we see some really huge paw prints. I believe them to belong to a mountain lion or cougar whichever they have here. Shorter and wider than a dogs print along with deep claw marks.
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| Big paw print with deep claw marks |
Kathi and I review what to do if we see a cougar or mountain lion. We are making our way through some tall willows walking and talking about whatever you do, don't run...next thing Kathi stops dead in her tracks, I again almost run into her backside. This time Kathi did not say BEAR! She just did a quick air suck in. I peak over her shoulder, it is times like this that I really like that Kathi wants to hike first...We see a yellow lab bounding up the trail towards us. Nice! We can breath again! We were never so happy to see a yellow lab! Yellow labs sure do look a lot like cougars when you are thinking about cougars! The lab is followed by four ladies hiking the looping trail in the opposite direction that we are. We tell them about the tracks and head on our way.
We come to the junction for South Fork Pass and make our way up the trail. We find ourselves a nice rock with a view of the valley and have ourselves a half of a lunch. The pass was not much to look at, but the clouds seems to be gathering and are rather dark, really again? Ok, pack up and start heading back. We now have to hike back up to the same trail that we came out on.
After yesterday's hike up to two passes this should be about the same amount of uphill. Again we keep our eyes open for cougar. About the same area we met the yellow lab we stop to chat with a husband and wife who are out hiking. They live in Aspen year round and love to get out hiking. We talked about the wildlife we had seen in the area. They also had seen the very large tracks. Then we mentioned the bear which we saw yesterday, well heck, they had a topper story. They are on the Aspen Bear Watch committee and this week the lady had an in home visit from a bear. I guess these things are not suppose to happen when you are on the Aspen Bear Watch committee. She had left her front door open to the house to help get a little cool air inside. I guess it was a bit warm that day and air conditioning around here is unheard of. She heard some noise and first thought it was raining, upon looking out the window she noticed it was not raining, so she went to see what was up... She walked from her in home office door to the hallway just in time to see a bear walking out of her house. As she checked the house for any possible damage she noticed that the bear made a stop by their wine cooler. Guess they didn't have any huckleberry wine for that bear. What do you say after that? They were so lucky the bear was just out wandering around and did not find anything in the house. These are the kind of impromptu conversations that I so love about meeting people while out hiking. We also talked about how different Aspen was during June/July, the week of Christmas and the week of Easter. The guy was in high end construction and remodeling. When a billionaire comes to town and buys a 52,000 square foot home and wants it re-done to make it more cozy, they would call him. Or another good construction story was aboutpeople buying big homes and having them gutted so they could make them earth friendly. I think we could have stood there and talked for a long time because as it was we spent about 25 minutes chatting. We needed to be moving.
We stopped for the second half of our lunch just short of the Lost Man Lake. The sun was feeling warm and we had ourselves a nice flat boulder to spread out on. For the first time since we started our vacation we just sat and took in the views without feeling like we needed to hustle due to the impending rain.
I think I could have taken a nap if I would have been able to get out of my mind the fact that we were in cougar country... Ok, back to the hike. It took us about a half hour to climb the remainder of the uphill. It was much warmer the second time over this pass, so we took some more pictures.
Made good time getting back down to the car. Surprise surprise, today is the first day we don't have to suit up for rain. Nice. Now for the hour drive back to Snowmass on hwy 82 which is very narrow in spots with big drop-offs. It is a real doozy. Some places only one car wide. I will try to keep my comments to myself about going slower :)
We come to the junction for South Fork Pass and make our way up the trail. We find ourselves a nice rock with a view of the valley and have ourselves a half of a lunch. The pass was not much to look at, but the clouds seems to be gathering and are rather dark, really again? Ok, pack up and start heading back. We now have to hike back up to the same trail that we came out on.
After yesterday's hike up to two passes this should be about the same amount of uphill. Again we keep our eyes open for cougar. About the same area we met the yellow lab we stop to chat with a husband and wife who are out hiking. They live in Aspen year round and love to get out hiking. We talked about the wildlife we had seen in the area. They also had seen the very large tracks. Then we mentioned the bear which we saw yesterday, well heck, they had a topper story. They are on the Aspen Bear Watch committee and this week the lady had an in home visit from a bear. I guess these things are not suppose to happen when you are on the Aspen Bear Watch committee. She had left her front door open to the house to help get a little cool air inside. I guess it was a bit warm that day and air conditioning around here is unheard of. She heard some noise and first thought it was raining, upon looking out the window she noticed it was not raining, so she went to see what was up... She walked from her in home office door to the hallway just in time to see a bear walking out of her house. As she checked the house for any possible damage she noticed that the bear made a stop by their wine cooler. Guess they didn't have any huckleberry wine for that bear. What do you say after that? They were so lucky the bear was just out wandering around and did not find anything in the house. These are the kind of impromptu conversations that I so love about meeting people while out hiking. We also talked about how different Aspen was during June/July, the week of Christmas and the week of Easter. The guy was in high end construction and remodeling. When a billionaire comes to town and buys a 52,000 square foot home and wants it re-done to make it more cozy, they would call him. Or another good construction story was aboutpeople buying big homes and having them gutted so they could make them earth friendly. I think we could have stood there and talked for a long time because as it was we spent about 25 minutes chatting. We needed to be moving.
We stopped for the second half of our lunch just short of the Lost Man Lake. The sun was feeling warm and we had ourselves a nice flat boulder to spread out on. For the first time since we started our vacation we just sat and took in the views without feeling like we needed to hustle due to the impending rain.
I think I could have taken a nap if I would have been able to get out of my mind the fact that we were in cougar country... Ok, back to the hike. It took us about a half hour to climb the remainder of the uphill. It was much warmer the second time over this pass, so we took some more pictures.
Made good time getting back down to the car. Surprise surprise, today is the first day we don't have to suit up for rain. Nice. Now for the hour drive back to Snowmass on hwy 82 which is very narrow in spots with big drop-offs. It is a real doozy. Some places only one car wide. I will try to keep my comments to myself about going slower :)
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| Nice Flowers! I like to look at flowers when walking uphill. |
It does rain later in the evening, but we are home before it starts. What a great day.
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