I originally wanted to do a 14'er (14,ooo + ft peak), but found that there really wasn't easy access to any good peaks within a reasonable drive that didn't require a 4x4. So I needed something simpler. I spoke to several locals and one hike kept coming up as a dandy: Ice Lake. It's a pretty popular trail by all accounts, nothing like the traffic that Peralta or some of the good local trails, but certainly gets its share of foot traffic (I ran across probably 15 people during the length of my hike).
The vertical climb starts at around 8,000 and goes to 12,500, with a round trip of between 10 and 12 miles depending on how hard you want to make it. There are a total of 4 lakes that you can visit at the end of the hike, but I only had the time/energy for 3, so my round trip was just shy of 11 miles.
The pictures posted here do NOT do it justice, but they give a small idea of how majextic this hike was. Easily one of the top 10 most scenic hikes I've ever been on. Unfortunately also one of the most bug filled (Ah, summer in the mountains...).
Hopefully I'll give a more complete trip report later. Here are the pics.
Near the base of the trail, this was the first time I had really broken out of the trees at the base and gotten some really spectacular views.
The first of many waterfalls. I actually took a wrong turn on the trail because I was distracted by this waterfall, then had to scramble up the scree slope to the right of the fall pictured. Not fun. Turned out that this was one of the LESS impressive falls over the course of the hike. I was never out of ear-shot and only briefly out of visual range of waterfalls over the course of the entire hike.
Just some of the spectacular scenery.
Two items on this picture.
One: wild-flowers were EVERYWHERE. Absolutely incredible. Again, pictures cannot even begin to show the beauty. The picture following is also showing that to some degree.
Two: the day I went hiking happened to be the same day as a 100+ mile race that started near Silverton. Their path intersected with my trail for about 1 mile and then took off over a different pass. If you look carefully you can see about 8 racers heading toward the pass in this picture (the resolution might not allow for it even in the larger version - but, trust me, they're in there). The folks doing the race were MOVING. I'm a fast hiker (I averaged nearly 3 mph over the course of my hike) and they just blew right by me. Unbelievable.
More wildflowers and scenery. The pictures can seem monotonous and mind-numbing in similarity, but, believe me, it was not that way at all during the hike.
The first lake at Lower Ice Lake Basin.
A panorama of one of the three lakes at Upper Ice Lake Basin.
A good panorama that caught both of the lakes at the upper basin. There is a third lake that was up just slightly higher and about 1 mile away to the east, but I just didn't have the time or energy to hike to it. I wanted to, but it just wasn't in the cards. I probably would have even sacrificed my body/energy for the view, but I had to be back home in time for dinner with the family - so I bagged it. And, yes, I'm a little upset about it now, but at the time it was a slightly easier decision.
Looking back downt the trail as I'm headed back at just near the highest point of my hike.
This is on my way back down just before the Lower Ice Lake - it was really just an incredible day.
I need more!
