Heart Lake

I drive through traffic heading out of the city to the mountains. Heading to meet Zaida at the designated rendezvous parking lot to load all of the backpacking gear in my truck and make our way to the trailhead. This is Zaida's first backpacking experience, I have selected a well know area only 1:15 min drive from town. The James Peak Wilderness is full of lakes, so lush the flowers were in full glory.

Friday night after arriving at the trailhead, we changed into some warmer clothes and then repacked Zaida's pack. As I said before this was her first trip and we were getting her squared away. I explained how to distribute weight, to keep the balance centered, and how to utilize all space available. With the packs packed, we cracked a couple beers and lounged to enjoy the evening. Enjoying the evening consisted of great weather, beautiful scenery and train driving by about every 30 min followed by the tunnel's venting system which ran for about 20 min a time. Did I mention that the James Peak Wilderness is at the east portal of the Moffat tunnel? The Moffat tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide connecting Rollinsville and Winter Park. We spent the night in the back of the truck at the trailhead with anticipation of getting an early start Saturday hiking. Soon the monotonousness of the trains and fans were easily ignored as we slept. Rising with the sun, we ate and dressed and began our journey up the South Boulder Creek Trail, destination Heart Lake. We began up the trail, stopping only to rest as I took pictures, making the 4 mile hike in about 3 hours.

By the time we reached Heart Lake Zaida was worn out, and I myself was ready to drop my pack.We circled the lake to the far side and got into the alpine brush, putting our packs down we searched for an appropriate campsite, sheltered and away from people. I mean who wants to go backpacking around other people, this isn't car camping! We found a great flat spot that gave us morning and afteroon sun, with a sheltered cooking area.

As we sent up the tent and began to unpack, we realized no more that 75 yards away was a marmot den. We got to watch them sun and eat and play the entire trip!

After setting up camp we grabbed our water filter and headed to the lake. With all the camp chores done we got to relax and play the rest of the day away!

 I put my pole together and fished Zaida decided that the water was warm enough to swim... there is no way I was getting in that water! Zaida swam, I didn't catch any fish, but saw some beautiful Greenback Cutthroat Trout swimming around. 

We had gorgeous weather that day! The night became windy and we woke up to clouds in the morning. After sleeping in and having a peaceful breakfast, we leisurely packed up. Heading dow the trail I was worried about the impending rain cloud building behind us.

We reached the trailhead, packed up, changed, and began to drive away as a light rain started. As we continued the drive home in the rain, which turned into a downpour, we reflected on how fun the trip was, and talked about how we are fortunate enough to live in this amazing state!

All Photos by Cory Arola