Hike: Jasper Lake

A moderate 10+ mile hike this weekend took myself and three other hiking companions to Jasper Lake, a high-altitude lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, just two hours north of Colorado Springs. Since moving to the Springs, I had never been hiking this far out of the area. The difference in the geology between that of the Springs area and Indian Peaks is substantial. In many ways, it felt like a homecoming, as though I were hiking once again in the San Juans. I'm not a geologist, but I found there to be more of the same grey granite, buckled faults, and rotten rock that is found in the San Juans, as well as similar flora (i.e. wildflowers). It was fresh and familiar air to me. I enjoyed hiking with some new folks, two of whom I met for the first time on saturday. To my surprise, Tom (also new to the area) had been to some of my old haunts, including lower Ice Lakes basin near Silverton, so I was excited to reminisce and talk about one of my favorite hikes in Colorado. A sweet connection to "home" for me. We all enjoyed a beautiful day and only a small patch of rain in Boulder as we stopped off on the way home to stretch our legs along Pearl Street.