HIKE to King Lake (Gorgeous Wildflowers and Alpine Views!)

Описание: Hike to King Lake, CO - 7/26/2021

I wanted a hike that would take me to an alpine lake. A friend recommended King Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, just outside of Nederland, Colorado.

This beautiful out-and-back hike is around 12.5 miles total. You’ll begin at 9,000 feet and gain close to 2500 feet of elevation until you reach King Lake at ~11,431 ft.

Not gonna lie: I was tired after this hike. But the views, flowers, and mushrooms were totally worth it.

This hike is best done July through September. In late July, the wildflowers were still beautiful, plus I spotted a bunch of super cool, bright-colored mushrooms in the forest. Because I started early, I didn’t see a soul on the King Lake Trail for hours. Then I began to see a few backpackers. It didn’t get busy until close to the end of the hike, where hikers were headed to Lost Lake.

HIKE DETAILS
To hike to King Lake, start at the Hessie Trailhead just outside Nederland.

Park on the road. You’ll want to get there as early as possible to find a parking spot and to avoid thunderstorms.

At the fork, you’ll see a sign for Hessie and Fourth of July trails and head left. You’ll hike on a trail next to a lake. Past the lake, turn right at the dirt road. Keep going and you’ll eventually reach the official Hessie Trailhead sign.

Once you reach signs for the various trails in the area, you’ll take the Take Devil’s Thumb Trail (over the bridge), NOT Devil’s Thumb Bypass. You’ll encounter many more signs; follow the arrows to King Lake.

The hike itself is steep in spots early on, but for the most part is a gradual climb for miles until you reach the last part, which gets steep.

Once you reach the trail to King Lake, you’ll hike through forest for miles, not far from a stream. Later, the trail climbs up steep hillside (I definitely felt the altitude then) and you’ll enter a big cirque that’s crazy beautiful, surrounded big huge peaks and filled with streams and flowers.

Here, the trail splits again. If you go right, you can visit Betty's and Bob’s Lakes if you’re willing to hike another half mile to Betty and a full mile to Bob. Or, go left and cross the river to reach King Lake.

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