Silver Dollar Lake hike

Sometimes it is hard to decide on a destination for a hike. Sometimes it is easy. The hike last Saturday was one with a clear explanation even the explanation was... mmm... not that easy to explain ;)

 

Last Friday I woke up in the middle of the night and was unable to fall back asleep... You know how that happens, right? Like you are not sleeping but also not fully awake. Stupid thoughts (or better call them dreams) are popping up but you are unable to drive them away... Somehow that night all I could think (or dream?) of was a silver dollar. My mind was rolling around the idea of having a Morgan dollar coin. Why? Have no idea! I have a few Silver dollar certificates in my collection but no coins. And, honestly, I always liked the Morgan dollars but never came close to obtaining one... Anyway, there is no logic in these dreams but when I woke up in the morning, I knew where I was going for a hike - Silver Dollar Lake!

On my way there I imagined another Summer hike (don't remind me that was October the 1st, I knew that). Anyway, I expected some nice woods in the beginning, maybe even some Fall colors if I am lucky. The first surprise waited for me when I was passing one of the lakes on the side of Guanella Pass road - the water was wrapped up with some fog. Now when I am thinking about it I understand, the most surprising thing was not the fog itself, but why only one of the 4 lakes was foggy? Why not all of them? But it looked so nice and at this point I was sure, this hike will be amazing ;)

I was still driving up to the trailhead when I saw a line of cars waiting on the shoulder... I slowed down and immediately understood what was keeping them all there - a moose family, looking for some grass just on the edge of the road (or, probably, they were waiting for some treats or just craved some attention ;) ).

It was around 8 AM when I pulled over and parked my car at the trailhead... At this point I was 100% sure this hike would be not only different but absolutely not what I was expecting...

Why? Because it was not a Summer hike and not even a Fall hike. Not at all... The grass was frosted and the powder of snow was covering everything - the road, the trees, the trail... The temperature was at the freezing point and everything looked just very different from the downhills.

Actually I shouldn't be surprised - the trailhead is located at an elevation of 11,200 feet and the humid air that brings rain downhill brought snow there. So I prepared myself to see some Winter weather at the time when most of the trees in Denver were still green!

The trail was weaving between the spruces and everything looked dark. The sun was still low and unable to penetrate the shadows. But the sky looked blue and bright already...

After another turn the trail stepped out of the woods and I could see my destination in the opening. All hills were powdered with fresh white snow and looked absolutely incredible.

 

Though most of the hillsides were still in the shadows, but the sun brightened up some of the peaks, and they looked like someone put a torch inside and made them glow.

A couple more turns and the first lake appeared down the valley. Naylor lake looks gorgeous and inaccessible. It is a private property and you can admire it but only from a distance. Not a big deal, even if it looks amazing climbing down to the water would be a bit challenging, so no regrets...

So let's enjoy some reflections and move further, to see the bigger target - Silver Dollar Lake, the one I was dreaming about all previous night ;)

All the way up to the Silver Dollar Lake I was looking at the white slopes, powdered with snow. Everything looked not only white (that would be expected, wouldn't it?) but also amazingly fresh. You can tell this snow wasn't here even yesterday, it was still settling on the ground and bringing this remarkable feeling like every first snow brings...

Soon Naylor lake was behind but visible even better from the higher vantage point... No complaints... The view was admirable for sure.

What can be more exciting than the contrast between white snow and blue sky? Nm... probably nothing.

But, actually, the sky there wasn't just normal bright and blue. You will see it all the way up and down the trail, if one side of the sky featured bright and blue color, the other showed some clouds... And even more... Some clouds were swimming low at the East side (compared to the West on the previous picture, where at this moment the sky was just BLUE)...

And when I looked South.. the sky there wasn't cloudy... it was under a heavy cold blanket, gray-white and puffy, with no blue picking between. That was... hm... thrilling...

Here is the Silver Dollar lake - it looked rough and gloomy under thick clouds and surrounded by powdered slopes. The water looked, actually, not silver but lead. Gray and cold.. Very cold. The real mountain lake, I guess...

And it was a huge contrast with the Naylor lake down there. This one looked nice and cozy compared to Silver Dollar lake.

 

The trail was climbing up and up leading me to the third lake and the view to the Silver Dollar lake and later to both, Naylor and Silver Dollar, was just breathtaking. Look for yourself!

By this point the sky was mostly cloudy and unfriendly. I was seriously awaiting for more snow to come and wouldn't be really surprised to be caught by bad weather. The only hope for better weather I had was when I looked East...  

So I climbed up (I was about 1000 feet above my starting point for now) to see the third lake - the Murray lake. It looked smaller and shallower. Actually the perception of the size is different there. Looking at the map I realized, the Murray lake is just slightly smaller compared to the Silver Dollar lake... and the Naylor lake is almost twice bigger than Silver Dollar lake. But looking at them in the real world you feel like the Silver Dollar lake is slightly bigger than the Naylor lake and at least twice bigger than the Murray lake. Interesting...

The water in the Murray lake was more glassy and created a nice reflection.

Honestly at this moment I found it more impressive looking at the mountain slopes. They looked different and a bit surreal. Not much of the contrast with the sky. And the snow made them look even flatter than usual. You need all your imagination working to see it tridimensional.

 

The cliffs that were close(r) blended with the slope further away and everything merged with the gray (cloudy) sky... Kinda unusual, don't you think so?

But.. not everything looked as gloomy and some of the blue were penetrating and adding some lovely colors to the mostly white picture...

And surprisingly some of the clouds on the East decided to move down and started to play hide and find with the peaks. Nice, huh?

At this point I was down to the Silver Dollar lake again and guess what? The Southern sky wasn't lead and clouds anymore. It was marbled blue and white and the sun was shining down and making the view to the lake so different from what I was looking at just a half and hour ago! Look for yourself and compare with the same view above.

I decided to take a 5 minutes break and sat down for a while. Right, it looked like a nice moment to remove the boots and cool down the feet in the water... But... I decided to pass on it. Just didn't feel like cooling the feet in 30 degrees water ;)

I looked back (Western slope) at the trail I just climbed down and everything looked different there too. Even though the sky above was still gray, the sun brightened up the slopes and added some deepness to the previously flat image...

 

Look at this and just imagine that - 30 minutes ago all slopes looked the same - gray and flat and now the sun made it just different.

But... that was the south and west... And the north was even brighter and less cloudy... What about the east? The clouds were swimming low and started to mingle with the peaks and ridges. Honestly I cannot remember the weather changing so quickly and bringing such a different feeling from different sides...

And the view back to the western slope just above the Murray lake was so bright that I even wanted to return and have a look at the lake again. But I didn't...

I was heading back and found this pair staying on the rock and looking at the lake... the silhouette of two figures at the top of the cliff really made my day. They looked just right for the place and the moment. So I am glad I had a second to snap this picture. I joined them on the rock and stayed there for a while enjoying the view of the lake down the hill and slopes on the other side of the valley.

When I returned on the trail I met a nice creature - pika. Nice looking rodent and very curious. There were many of them sitting on the rocks and looking at the hikers passing by. Probably they were waiting for something left behind so they can squirrel some stuff and store it for a winter...

The slopes looked even better under the now bright sky and I was seriously thinking about turning around and hiking all the way back... but decided not to do that...

Soon I was on the trail where the snow wasn't covering it anymore. But still there was enough white coldness in the shadows and under the trees...

But the snow was quickly melting and the drops of cold water were falling down the ground making it feel like it was raining (no kidding, it was a huge difference between walking on the openings and under the trees).

What can I say - that was a nice hike. Just over 3 hours and 5 miles. 1,400 feet of the elevation gain but that was relatively easy - the slopes weren't really steep. I wouldn't recommend hiking there in the winter unless you have hiking poles and traction chains (even not being steep, the trail is narrow, slippery and uneven which makes it harder to hike when the weather is under the weather) but it should be an amazing Summer hike, especially when the wild flowers are blooming. I, probably, need to add this trail to my list to hike next Summer!

To see the trail on Google Maps click here.

Pictures were taken on October 01, 2022.