On our final week of our 6-week van trip, I was searching for one more challenging hike. I’ve hiked to Ice Lake before, and it was beautiful, but I read that Columbine Lake was even nicer. The trailhead is on a narrow, rough road, so we chose to boondock at Ophir Pass Road, which is just under a mile from the trailhead. We had a great site by a creek. We were at nearly 10,000 feet in elevation.
Here's a sneak Preview of the Lake
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| Paul at Columbine Lake near Silverton, CO |
I headed out about 6:40am toward the trailhead. The temperature was 33ºF. The road hike also added another few hundred feet of elevation gain to the 2,700 that the trail provided. When I got to the trailhead all I can say is one word - steep. This trail was designed by bighorn sheep or mountain goats. Bipedal creatures should think twice.
I started the climb. By 1/4 mile up I was stopping to peel off several layers and saw a young female hiker coming up. I had not seen anyone else on the trail, so I said “Nice to see another human out this morning.” She said, “Oh, did you see the bear at the trailhead?” I must have just missed it. I was singing my bear warning song, so perhaps it was hiding when I passed. The song goes, “Well I hope there’s not a bear on the loose, or a mountain lion, or a wayward moose.” I’ve used this on several lightly occupied trails and it has a perfect success record of avoiding unwanted encounters.
She let me go ahead, and I didn’t see her behind me after a short bit. I saw no other people for the entire climb. The climb has three major sections of roughly equal distance. I first had to go 1 mile and a few hundred feet to reach the trailhead. On the official trail, the first third (1.3 miles) is a set of many steep switchbacks through the forest with grades up to 28%. The second section is 1.2 miles with a very steep path (grades up to 31%) up the open mountainside - capped with a sketchy section of scree to get across to a pass. That section gains about 1,700 feet. Finally, after the pass, the final 1.4 mile section is relatively flat - even some downhill for a bit, before the final climb to the lake.
I questioned my ability several times as I was breathing hard and could feel my heart pounding. Goal one was to make it to the tree line, and once there I had a nice rest and snack to boost my energy. The mountain climb section was the hardest. It started with me picking out landmark boulders and reaching them, followed by a rest to catch my breath. This digressed to goals of just getting to smaller and closer landmarks. However, once I crested the pass, I was reinvigorated. Though there was a good deal of distance remaining, the vertical challenge sections were done.
There were great mountain views all around, and a few wildflowers were hanging on late into the summer. I made the final push along the creek up to the lake edge. Oh my goodness. I’ve not seen water that blue before. If you didn’t know better you would think it was dyed that color.
I went up and down the sides of the lake taking in the views, then stopped and had a lakeside sandwich. There was no one up there but me for the first 15 minutes. Then, a trail runner and his dog came up and joined me along the shore. |
| Columbine Lake |
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| Columbine Lake |
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| Columbine Lake |
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| Columbine Lake |
The climb was nearly 3,000 vertical feet over 4.9 miles. It took me 3 hours to reach the summit, including several nice rest breaks. The lake elevation is 12,700 feet above sea level. I stayed about 30 minutes, and as I was about to depart the girl I saw early in the hike made it up. We visited a bit, then a couple and their two dogs made it up. I wanted to stay longer, but I thought it would be slow going down with the steep terrain, and I didn’t want Elena to worry if I got back late.  |
| Trail Route |
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| Hike Elevation Profile |
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| My heart rate |
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| Steep and narrow trail |
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| A few remaining wildflowers |
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| Small rocks, large rocks. |
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| The view on the return hike |
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| The steep hill to climb (and descend) |
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| The stream from the lake |
An interesting side note. We happened to be in Telluride for the Mushroom Festival. Most of the campground was occupied by people in interesting clothing and hats - like a 60’s flower child throwback. Many vehicles had mushroom and fungi related bumper stickers. It was an interesting crowd, and we even saw some out doing wild plant foraging when we were on our hikes. I say this because the Columbine Lake Trail was loaded with mushrooms - very large and colorful mushrooms. No one had been on a harvesting walk to Columbine Lake.  |
| Many mushrooms |
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| Mushrooms quite large |
When we reached our next campground, Molas Lake, I put on my swimsuit and sat in the cold lake for a bit to relieve my tired legs. Molas Lake is at 10,500 feet elevation. Fortunately, we could just drive right up to this lake - no hiking required. Elena got out in a kayak for a paddle, while I rested. |
| Elena kayaking on Molas Lake |
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| Our tiny red camper van on the shore of Lake Molas |
Columbine Lake is spectacular, and was worth the effort. Hiking two challenging hikes on this trip made me feel good about my fitness. In early summer (at home) I felt like my fitness was in steep decline, but maybe it was just the heat and humidity. Being able to hike a pair of challenging 3,000 foot climbs (Buckskin Pass and Columbine Lake) has me feeling better.
Paul
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