Alright, so I admit Hanging Lake is pretty neat. Perri has been wanting to go there since we moved to Colorado 3 years ago. I have always deferred because I figured it would be too crowded. It was crowded, but manageable and well worth a 3ish hour hike.
The Forrest Service has a lot of staff on hand to direct traffic and keep people going in the right direction. They were all universally polite and friendly and more than willing to answer any inane questions one might come up with. We arrived at about 8 am – Just in time to get through the gate before they started turning people around. The parking area is relatively small which helps keep the number of people on the trail at least, consistent. When the lot fills up they have a one out one in policy. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a parking place. I’ve waited longer than that to get a marginal meal at an overpriced restaurant. Oh yeah, no admittance fee.
The trail was a little over a mile one way and pretty steep in places. We had water and took plenty of rest stops. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take Tess. Dogs are not allowed on this trail – for good reason. There are lots of people and dogs could definitely become a treacherous nuisance. Tess did have a nice shady bed in the Jeep with plenty of water. She probably would have freaked out seeing all the chipmunks on the trail anyway.
We had to stop now and then just to take in the views. Whenever we were moving, we had to watch our feet pretty closely for trip hazards. That’s just normal when hiking.
The lake itself is small, but the water is a crystal clear turquoise blue. Really indescribable. We even saw a few tiny trout in the shallows. As usual, pictures really don’t do justice to the view ( particularly when it’s obscured by a furry faced old man ).
On a side trail above Hanging Lake is Spouting Falls ( Some sites call it Bridal Veil Falls). This is the REAL gem of the hike. It’s just a short distance further and not at all difficult to reach, but seemed somewhat neglected by most of the hikers. Perri and I had these falls to ourselves for the better part of 10 minutes, which was like an eternity up there. You could walk behind the falls, and while it was damp, it was not really wet – just NOISY.
So we moved on from Hanging Lake and headed for Glenwood Springs for lunch. Slope and Hatch ( http://www.slopeandhatch.net/ ) is the current go to place for taco’s for Perri and me. Best fish tacos ever.
We were hoping to get to see Rifle Falls on the same day, but much like Hanging Falls, Rifle Falls is extremely busy on a beautiful June Saturday. Their parking was full up and neither Perri or I were interested in waiting for a slot. We’ll just make that trip another day. As a consolation prize and to let Tess stretch her legs a bit we went to the riparian habitat area. It was actually pretty nice.
Our original plan for this weekend had been to camp on Friday and Saturday night at Coffee Pot Springs Campground (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/whiteriver/recreation/ohv/recarea/?recid=41211&actid=29) near Dotsero . For a variety of reasons, we ditched that plan and opted for just a day trip. No regrets, but we also figured while we were in the area we would check out the campground. Pretty good idea. Dotsero is just East of Glenwood Canyon at the junction of the Colorado and Eagle rivers. About 20 miles North and West of there is the campground. Most of the road is gravel, but aside from some ubiquitous washboard very serviceable. I tend to rate roads as to whether I could ride the Versys on them, and this would be no problem. Some of the road followed Deep Creek and there were dispersed campsites all along it. Coffee Pot was on a very high tundra area (10000+ feet) It was breezy but beautiful. The campground was not full but it also wasn’t huge and most of the better sites were taken. Perri and I agreed that it warranted a retun trip with camping gear.
After that it was time to head home. Heading down to the interstate we were stopped by a herd of sheep in the middle of the road. There was a shepherd on horseback with his dog, moving them along and it took no time at all to clear the road. That was the first time I had ever had the opportunity to watch a working dog in action. Coolest thing ever.
After that it was all down hill with one or two up hills to get through Vail Pass and Loveland Pass. Got home about 7 and we both agreed it had been a successful adventure.
