Hike to Willow Lakes, Eagles Nest Wilderness, Silverthorne, Colorado
The Willow Lakes trailhead is relatively close to my house, however I had never actually hiked up to the lakes. Last fall I hiked to Salmon Lake, but didn’t make it all the way to Willow Lakes because of the amount of snow we had gotten overnight. Snow wasn’t a concern in the middle of July (although there still was some on the trail!) so I decided to finally hike all the way to Willow Lakes.
I arrived at the trailhead around 7:30 am on a Sunday, and the upper lot was completely full, which meant I would need to park at the lower trailhead, which added about a mile each way to my hike (2 miles total). It was a beautiful, bluebird day, and I really couldn’t have asked for better weather. I headed up the same trail from last fall that I took to Salmon Lakes, but did not take the final turn to Salmon Lakes and instead stayed left at that intersection to go to Willow Lakes.
When I finally arrived at the lakes, I was greeted by a large herd of mountain goats that included some cute babies. These mountain goats clearly had no fear of humans or dogs and came quite close to others around the lake. Thankfully, nothing happened and the goats went on to climb above the lakes. I sat for lunch at the farthest lake from the trailhead and really enjoyed the views.
After a 20 minute break, I started heading back down while taking in the views of the other lakes along the way. As I continued to descend, the temperature started to get quite warm which made me happy I started this hike early.
Overall, it was a beautiful hike that I can’t believe I waited so long to do. I can now understand why this hike is such a busy one!
Total stats: 14.5 miles, 2800 vert from the lower trailhead.
