DESTINATION Emerald Lake Trail #523 1 Photoset
2014-07-04 | |
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| Backpack | 29.60 Miles |
4,927 AEG |
| | Backpack | 29.60 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 4,927 ft AEG | | 29 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | So far this year i have been blessed to have gone on many first time trips for me. This past 4th of July weekend in Colorado was also a first for me and it could not have been a more picturesque place than Emerald Lake.
The weekend started on thursday afternoon when a group of friends and I left phoenix and headed over to Durango, CO eight hours away. We stopped at the Steamworks Brewery for dinner and brew. I had the meatball pizza and it was just average. We then headed an hour north to the Wenimuche wilderness at the San Juan NF. Camped near the trailhead, the first come, first serve campground was full. The following morning with our American flags started the 10 mile trek up to Emerald Lake at 10,000 feet. The morning started out as a clear and chilly morning, started hiking at 730AM and took it easy on the hike up and made it to Amerald Lake at 11AM. Clouds and rain started to coming early in the afternoon and lasted until well past 5PM but stayed on and off a couple of times throughout the night. We hung out by the bonfire for a long while since we wouldn't be in a hurry to do anything the following morning. The clear and calm view of Emerald Lake was beyond impressive. Only saw one person fishing, there seemed to be a large quantity of trout in this lake. It was nice to see Forest Rangers doing camp maintenance and introducing themselves to others camping in the area. We decided to head north and explore towards Moon Lake, it started raining in the later in the AM and decided to turn back at about the five mile mark with the toughest part to Moon Lake yet to come.
Enjoyed a leisurely late afternoon under a tarp to get away from the rain, tried to eat most of our food since we were coming back the following morning. We had a 5AM wake up call and were on the trail an hour later and were back at the trailhead by 930AM. |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
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| The world is my playground! |
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