Backpacking to Lake Ann

With the clock running out on summer, I decided to sneak out for another backpacking trip. This time I was on my own. I wanted to keep it simple after last week’s grueling hike, so I went back to a place I had been years before – Lake Ann in the Collegiate Peaks wilderness area. Laika and I hiked up here six years ago, but the lake and surrounding area were covered in snow in mid July. I thought we’d give it another go a bit later in the summer.

This time was much different. The mild winter and a month later into summer meant the entire area was melted and dry. This is a fantastic trail. It has everything you would hope for in a Rocky Mountain hike – fantastic scenery, rocky and steep trails, wildlife, and an alpine lake. It was about a 4 mile hike altogether. After climbing up and down a few of the plateaus surrounding the lake looking for a quiet place for camp, it was about 3,000 feet of vertical climb, although only about 1500 feed of net vertical gain.

There were a few other campers at the lake by the time we arrived, so I decided to look for a quiet spot toward the edge of the plateau. We managed to find an area that still provided views of the lake and the surrounding Clear Creek valley. I was hoping for some sunset or sunrise light, but the area was blanketed in heavy clouds. That gave some drama to the scenery, but meant there would be no artistic light for my photo album.

It started raining just after I pitched the tent, so Laika and I ducked inside for about an hour to stay dry. After that, we had a serene evening. As I was eating my dinner after dusk, I heard a noise on the ridge overlooking our camp. I turned on my headlight just in time to see some large mammal – either an elk or a moose – scamper back down the mountain. Since the clouds doused all hope of stargazing, I turned in for a reasonably early night.

I was up before sunrise, but once again the clouds were everywhere. I scouted around looking for a few photos. Every once in a while, the sun would peak among the clouds and tease, but in the end all the pictures came out pretty drab. Still, I very much enjoyed the experience, and would be happy to come back to this place.