Lake Irwin - part 2 of Independence Day trip 2015

To read previous part:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015

We left Taylor Park Reservoir and took a winding road along the Taylor River. We planned to see even more alpine lakes this day...

In about an hour we passed Crested Butte and took a county road towards Lake Irwin. We drove as long as we could and stopped only when the road became impassable for our Forester. Than we left the car and started walking along the road. We planned to hike from Lake Irwin and to see some flowers at higher altitude.

There were a lot of flowers along the trail. "If there were so many of them on the 4th of July, how nice this place should look in a few weeks", we thought. Everything should be covered with different flowers in a couple of weeks and you could find even more Columbines, Lupines, Glacier Lilies and many other flowers. But even when we were there, multiple colorful isles appeared here and there on our way. Definitely it is a good idea to come here again and smell the scent of blooming alpine meadows and tundra.

We hiked about 15 minutes when the rain caught us near the snow patch. The best we could do was to stay under the tall pine tree to wait until the rain exhausts itself and we can see the clear sky again. Then we continued to hike for a couple more miles. 

We planned to hike a bit longer and see Green Lake, but... Another, much stronger rain was coming and we were lucky enough to find some trees that gave us a shelter. That time it was heavy rain spiced with hail, and we needed to stay under the tree for about a half an hour before we could continue to hike up again. We stayed on the trail but decided to turn back, because once we made a turn we discovered the dark and heavy clouds moving in our direction. And, I'd say that was a right decision, because when 40 minutes later we jumped into the car the heavy drops started bombing the car roof. And we realized that no trees can hide us from this rain.

But that was a nice hike - we hiked about 4.5 miles and gained about 1100 feet of elevation. We met a nice deer, found a few waterfalls and enjoyed the vistas and views to the mountain peaks. 

We were a little bit tired and hungry and needed to find a place where we can have some rest. That was no place to stop near Lake Irwin, because the campground was full and packed with campers and fishermen. We made a decision to go to Peanut Lake where we can have lunch. That was a right decision to make, there weren't any people there...

Continue reading:

Peanuts and Meridian lakes - part 3 of Independence Day trip 2015

Pictures were taken on July 03, 2015