Stats:
Trailhead -
Upper Chicago Lake
Starting altitude: 3216 Meters
Low point: 3118 Meters
Upper Lake: 3553 Meters
22,000-ish steps (round trip)
Distance: 13ish miles
Time: 4 hours 40 minutes
Temperature: 20 - 21 C.
This is a good hike. Perhaps a great hike. It has everything I like about hiking. It's in the woods. The trail is tight. You can hear the babble of water flowing downhill. It rewards you with some breathtaking scenery.
It has one serious flaw. It violates the conceit of this log.
"Uphill First" is a title I chose from bitter experience. Going uphill first has the tremendous benefit that the return trip is downhill.
I don't love downhill. I'm a better climber than descender. My bones, my back, the cartilage in my knee all agree that down hill isn't all that it's cracked up to be. My heart and lungs can make a pretty good counter argument. So it was today.
The hike takes place on the sides of Mount Evans. You start out at Echo Lake which is a quick run up the road form Idaho Springs. Parking is the usual challenge.
The trail from Echo Lake starts to switch back pretty quickly heading downward to the bottom of the canyon that Chicago Creek has spent centuries carving our. It then follows a road, passing the Idaho Spring's reservoir, for a mile to the Chicago Lakes Trail Head. The trail head promises a 12 mile round trip, but you've already done a couple of miles.
The trip up to the lower Chicago Lake is pretty straightforward; no scrambling, just trail. It's lovely to walk among the trees, and alongside scrubby marshes where you can hear the distant babble of water. You hike and climb and eventually come the Lower Chicago Lake.
The trail isn't right next to the lake, but overlooks it. I stopped to have lunch at the far end of the lake feeling tired but satisfied.
I then made the decision to push on to the upper lake. I'm not sure that was the best decision as the climb seemed to burn through lunch, breakfast, last nights remaining calories and whatever I intended to eat afterwards. It wasn't hard, thought it included climbing a corn snow-covered slope.
The reward was the satisfaction of seeing Upper Chicago Lake, feeling the wind whip across the high valley, and getting a stupendous overlook of the valley I just climbed. It also included a thumping heart, some time spent catching my breath and a bit of fear that I'd just made the return trip harder than it needed to be. Should I have brought more water? Perhaps more calories? The answer is probably yes for both. I do know that, having reached the upper lake, next time I'll make a better assessment of my "state" prior to pushing on.
Those considerations took the edge off my time at the upper lake, which is a shame as it was quite lovely.
I headed back and was grateful for the downhill trajectory. My knees didn't like it over much, nor did my quadriceps, but my lungs, heart and stomach were happier. This is often the balance one strikes when hiking in the mountains: heart and lung v. knees and skeleton. My muscles and bones like going uphill. My heart and lungs like downhill.
At the back of my mind was the knowledge that I'd have that final climb backup to Echo Lake and I rememebered why I don't like hiking downhill at the embarkment.
The climb back up proved tiring, but shorter than I remembered. I was fearful enough of it that I got in a good rest before finishing off my dried mango slices and the remaining water, which likely helped. Why is the return always shorter? In this case, even uphill?
Returning to my car I skipped out on soaking my tired feet in Echo Lake. They could have used it, but I wanted water, some food, and the comfort of my car seat.
The return trip to Denver was across Squaw Pass, which offered great views, but being tired, hungry and thirsty the view just worked on my mind making me fear the - unlikely - drop. Sorry to the driver behind me, though in my defense, I did have people in front as well.
This was a great trip, but next time I'll plan more time, bring more calories, and more water.
