Herman Gulch hike - out and back...

To read the first part click here Herman Gulch hike - what happens in the morning... 

I climbed on the rock and stayed there and took pictures of the lake. It looked just beautiful. Surrounded by rough cliffs and sitting at the basin, green-ish water looked well aligned with green slopes. I liked it and didn't rush myself to walk down...

 

It took just five more minutes to reach the water and enjoy looking at the lake from a close distance. The water was quiet and clear so I was able to see the shallow rocky part. 

 

After hiking for 4 miles and climbing about 1800-2000 feet up it felt just right to unload the backpack, drop the camera to the rock and enjoy some rest... And I'll tell you a secret - I had a freshly made Santiago's burrito to refuel myself while I was just sitting on the rock and... didn't move anywhere for a while ;)

But what can refresh you better than taking your boots off and wetting your feet in the cold water? Right - nothing! So I thought when I stepped into the water... not for a long time though ;) The water was cold... it was just freezing cold so it took less than a minute to jump out of the water and stop even thinking about doing it again. But know what? It refreshed and really recharged me ;)

The lake looked nice but I wanted to see it from above so I walked around and to the far end with an idea of climbing up the slope for a better view and the first I found there were flowers! Tons of them...

There was a small creek and the water streamed from the mountain to the lake and not surprisingly the flowers covered all surrounding area as a bright colorful rag.

...and the lake looked just amazing even when I climbed up just a few feet ;)

But... the flowers first ;)

I climbed up about 100 feet and took this picture. Doesn't the lake look better when you are elevated? Huh?

Finally when I was a good 200 feet above the lake I found a nice pile of stones and a few Columbine's bushes growing around... and...

...and in a second I found out that this pile of rocks is actually home for a nice marmot family ;)

(how many can you find on this pic, BTW? Hint - there are three of them).

Two big and three small marmots definitely made my day. I spend a good 30 minutes trying to coax them to pose for me (without any good success, actually).

Let's look around so you have a better idea of surroundings... The steep slope and many rocks made it a perfect place to hide for small animals. And flowers, flowers, flowers... Everywhere. Three or four Columbine bushes all around the rocks where the marmots live. I can understand why they have chosen this place ;)

I guess that live there isn't a cake... And to survive you have to be careful and always watching around. And... these marmots are good at it... They know their drill ;) Both looking the same direction...

Next both were turning in the opposite direction...

Next they looked in the different directions for a better view and to have their offspring protected ;)

They didn't look friendly, but... they looked cool ;)

To give you some idea where they live, look here. See this rock on the right and a small pile of rocks at the bottom of the big one? Here is the marmot's house! About 200 feet above the lake level.

And the lake from above looks just awesome, doesn't it?

There is a trail down there. I decided I don't want to come back the same way I got up there and just traversed the slope heading back to the rout...

And the slope actually was quite steep. But climbing up, walking along or climbing down wasn't a big deal, because when I walked there I felt like it was made of hundreds of small terraces which made walking much easier.

 At some point I turned around and looked at the slope behind the lake. I found some hikers walking down the slope and... I think this slope is steeper than the one I climbed...

Can you find these hikers in this picture too? Same slope, same everything, just a bit wider view, so... do you see them?

Finally I returned back to the trail and moved to the opposite direction heading back to the trailhead. And the views around just made me speechless...

And again I stepped down to see the mountains from the creek level and found more flowers closer to the water...

As I mentioned before, there were a lot of small creeks bringing their water to Herman Creek and they were shallow, fast and the water was extremely clean.

It was hard not to stop at the meadows and admire the flowers and the mountains at the same time...

At some point I found a small meadow close to the creek where dozens of butterflies were fluttering and feeding on the flowers. It slowed me down for at least 10 minutes, so beautifully these flying flowers looked like ;)

Finally, I finished the last stretch and found myself at the parking lot. Was I tired? You bet I was!

That was a long hike, actually. Over 9 miles (yeah, I was unable to stay on the trail and always found myself wandering around, so I added about 2 miles over expected distance). Total elevation gain of over 3000 feet! Wow, that was unexpected for sure. And the lowest point was at 10,300 feet when the highest at 12,130 feet. I spent over 6 hours in the wilderness but didn't feel exhausted. And... actually you can do this hike for much less time. Just stay focused on the hike and don't let the tail wade the dog ;)

Will I do it again? Certainly! It was one of the most beautiful hikes I performed and.. surprisingly not very hard to do.

To see the trail on Google Maps click here.

Pictures were taken on August 06, 2022.