The Hike

Stunning Vistas, Rugged Peaks, & Summer Wildflowers

Trailhead at the north end of the parking area, the one for hikers not horses. The trail starts with a long climb through montane forest. Along the first stretch, the understory is thick with shrubs and spike verbena, showy daisy, heartleaf arnica, yarrow, nodding onion, sticky geranium, blue flax, mountain woollywhite, rockcress, woolly cinquefoil, notchleaf groundsel, and many-flowered gromwell.

The Lake

If you are tired (and you will be), rest awhile next to the lake and soak in the views… Marmots rule the hills to the right (north) of the lake… As one biologist told me, blue columbines are like ice cream to marmots. Follow a trail up the open hillsides through layered wildflowers starting with waist-high red elderberry shrubs, corn lilies, native Parry’s thistle, fireweed, and osha. Underneath those, seas of tall pretty cinquefoil spread its yellow cheer across the hillsides intermixed with curly dock, leafy Jacob’s ladder, Richardson’s geranium, and sneezeweed.