Lost Lake Trail Hike, Eagles Nest Wilderness, Silverthorne, Colorado
Lost Lake
I wonder how many lakes are named “Lost Lake” in the U.S. Seems like there is always one in every town. The Lost Lake I hiked to in this blog post is in the Gore Range out of Silverthorne. The hike I did looks like a lollipop. I parked in a parking lot primarily used by fishermen to access the Blue River off of County Road 30. I don’t have a high clearance vehicle so I walked up Brush Creek Road to the Lost Lake Trailhead. If you do have a high clearance vehicle, you could eliminate 3.6 miles of hiking round trip.
The hike along the road was beautiful, with the leaves on the trees starting to turn yellow. When I reached the trailhead, I set out along the trail, which was a little overgrown in places. When I hit the Gore Range Trail, I turned right, looking to do the loop to the lake in a counterclockwise direction. I then turned left onto the Lost Lake Trail when I hit that intersection. The final mile closest to the lake was the steepest in my opinion. I finally made it to the lake and stopped for a snack. There was no one else around. Views opened up towards Guyselman Mountain. After a break, I decided to continue hiking as I was only halfway through the hike. I continued along the Lost Lake Trail until I hit the Gore Range Trail again where I turned left. This brought me back to the intersection where I went right on the Gore Range Trail earlier, and I headed back to the car.
I really enjoyed this hike - more than I thought I would. I didn’t see another person all day. It gets an A+ for solitude and feeling like a true wilderness hike. I also really enjoyed the diversity of views I got along the way. At times I had big views of the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness while at others I had views of aspen trees with yellow leaves. And, of course, one of my favorite views was of the lake itself. It’s an area I’d like to come back to explore more in the future.
Total Stats: 11.7 miles, 2400 ft of elevation gain.
