Picture Post: Lily Lake

 Lily Lake, in pictures.

This was a hike (Lily Lake and Lily Ridge) we did in RMNP towards the end of our time there, though after a long day of other hikes. It was one of our favorites for many reasons: ease of access, ability to be an easy walk around the lake if desired, ability to climb the ridge for a harder hike, view payoff to effort ratio, and the ability to add on longer hikes from the same location and trailhead. 

We did this hike without JD, who was 3 at the time, because he was toast for the day and wanted to hang with his Grams. He absolutely could have done this and enjoyed it. There were very few other people around, but again, it was mid/late October, later in the day, and the fires were starting grow.

Parts of the trail are boardwalk-type or flat; parks are rocky stairs; parts are just plain rock scrambles.

A view from part of the way up the ridge, looking down at the lake. 

Near the top. If you look closely, you can see St. Vrain Ave, and part of the flat trail that takes only around the lake. This gives you an idea of easy it is to get to this lake--St. Vrain is not a NPS road, and this is a whole different access point to the park. You can also see the smoke haze.

My adventure baby made it to the ridge top, and she felt pretty pleased with herself and the view.

My youngest niece accompanied us on this hike, and she was utterly bemused and baffled by the interest her dad and I had in some of the old, twisted, often dead trees. "Is because you are OLD? Do you like to contemplate YOUR MORTALITY?" Ahh, teens. The shade is efficient and well honed. Despite my mortality, obviously symbolized by the dead tree I had never seen before that point, this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

I wish I had more pictures of the descent down the ridge, because it was equally beautiful, but at that point, we got very goofy, and it's lots of family pictures of us goofing off while we hiked down. This is after we made it down the ridge; the path was flat dirt for a bit, then transitioned into boardwalk.

There's an overlook pier right off the parking lot, with an obvious real stunner of a view. I am almost certain that this is one of the three or four places for which you can get a special use permit to get married. Can you imagine? I bet the pictures are amazing. 

There were a few spots where you could get down to the water itself, which is my brother's favorite thing to do.