What a hike! Just when we thought the views couldn’t get any better ... it did! Just amazing and the most spectacular views. We kept stopping to turn around. WOW! The trail changed with every turn. Creek crossings. Switchbacks. Meadows. Wildflowers. Brilliant yellow aspen. Towering pines. Waterfalls. Even a recent avalanche crossing from this past winter. This hike is rated as hard. I have to agree. Tim and I think we did pretty good considering we are flat landers. On the way up we had to periodically rest along the way. You could definitely feel the lack of oxygen.
The elevation here in Silverton is 9,318’. Ice Lakes Trailhead is at 9,870’. Our hike took us above the tree line to 11,510’. As a reference we climbed over 125 floors. More than the height of the Empire State Building. The distance we traveled has been hard to determine. My watch tells me we did just over ten miles today. Minus a few trips into town and Jett walks. Trail maps say four miles. We can only guess we hiked somewhere between six to eight miles today.
Tim and I only made it to the Lower Ice Basin. The trail kept going on up and continued to Ice Lake. We had to make the decision to turn around. At this point weather was moving in, the sky was dark, it had begun raining and we were already three hours into the hike. The serenity in the basin was incredible. It was a hard decision to make. We had our raincoats but with not being able to see what was coming over the next mountain we headed back down. This hike is definitely in the top three of our all time favorite hikes.
Once we made it back to basecamp we walked over to the Handlebars Saloon. Weee doggi! I had the best chicken pot pie ever! Tim had the best chicken ever! We usually get a locally brewed beer and Tim did that but they had PBR on tap. Now that’s a rare find! We’ve wobbled back to the Airstream and have taken some vitamin I. Tomorrow will bring our last full day in Silverton and we hope to make the best of it!!!
Today’s quote -
‘The best view comes after the hardest climb.’ - Bryson Tiller
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