Lawn Lake & Hagues Peak 7/29 & 7/30
One week ago today we did a 2-day 20+ mile hike (Friday and Saturday).
It was sooooo awesome! My friend Jess and her husband joined James and me and
we had a blast.
(From left to right is Dimas, Jess, Me, and James.)
We hiked a pretty moderate trail but it took about 4 hours so we
were pretty exausted. We set up camp and relaxed for a while then
headed to nearby Lawn Lake for some water.
Someone had told us that there was another lake just a half
mile away called Crystal so we decided to take a little stroll up
the hill to Crystal Lake. Well we strolled and strolled and
strolled.. and ran out of water and still no lake. This was no half
mile venture. We wondered whether we should turn back or go "just a
bit further" to Crystal. Well we reasoned that if it was supposedly
just a half mile and we had already gone at least one mile... it
must be "just over that rise"... and then "just around that
boulder"... "just around that hill". 2 hours later and nearly
dehydrated we found what was neither crystal clear nor a lake at
all. We found a stagnent muddy pond!!!! It was like the boy who
cried wolf when James said "thats not Crystal, Crystal is just up
this hill". We all half laughed but when we saw it the "real" lake
it was worth it. It was so beautiful and clear.
(I don't have a good picture of it all from that day but this is Crystal Lakes the next day looking down from our climb.)
We got water and headed back to camp. Some deer wandered right
through our camp as we sat there talking and that was cool to see.
The worst thing was the mostquitos, they were really awful up there
and kept us tent confined most of the evening. The weather was
perfect for camping, it was cool but not cold.
We would have slept right through the night if there hadn't been an animal near the tent
(we could actually hear it breathing, so that was freaky.. we don't
know what it was but it wasn't really big cause it "skampered").
The next morning after breakfast we hiked up a huge and pretty
steep incline to the saddle of 2 mountains (Fairchild and Hagues).
(This sign points left to Crystal Lakes and right to The Saddle.)
When we got to the saddle a helicopter kept circling us then
sweeping the valley then circling again.
We began and ascent up Hagues Peak (the tallest peak in Larimer County).
(We took this just before climbing the mountain. From left to right is Jess, me and James.) It was a tough hike!
There was no trail and it was steep and bouldery. The helicopter
continude its circling and sweeping. We didn't make it quite to the
top but close. A large grey cloud moved over us rather quickly and
the last part of the climbto the top appeared extremely treacherous
with steep unstable boulders. We decided to head down, but the view
was so amazing we might as well have concidered ourselves at the
top!
(This isn't quite near the top but a good view anyway!)
On our way down we ran into some rangers and the told us
another ranger was missing up there in the saddle area. The
helicopter was dropping off search teams and dogs.
He is apparently still missing too. A search & rescue ranger called us this week to see if we had any information. Wish we could help, I hope they find him soon! Anyway, thats about it, overall it was a great trip!
Cross posted to Jessiflyadventuregirlsbackpackinghikingoutdoors