Emmaline Lake

For most of the holiday weekend, we stuck around the house and avoided the crowds. I even went in to work on Saturday while Christine rode her bike. (Don't worry, I'll make up for that time by checking out early on Friday.) On Monday we decided to venture out and head for the hills for a day hike to Emmaline Lake.

Emmaline Lake is in the Comanche Peak Wilderness area, and it's a lake I've wanted to visit for several years now. We were considering a backpacking trip there this year, but you can't camp anywhere near the lake so it was a good candidate for a day hike.

We started the hike under sunny skies, but some clouds quickly rolled in and brought some rain. It's pleasently unusual to be hiking in the rain in Colorado, and we found a nice place to hang out and watch the rain come down. The whole route was suprisingly damp for Colorado and there had clearly been a lot of rain up there lately. In addition to the mud, there was also a lot more mushrooms than I've ever seen in Colorado.

Most of the trail was a moderate uphill, but the last mile or so got steep and rocky. We weren't moving too fast, and that was a good thing because the rain had made the rocks and exposed roots very slippery. The skies cleared up when we got to Cirque Lake (below Emmaline), and it stayed clear long enough for us to make the quick trip up to Emmaline and snap some photos. After that, the rain came back and we just trekked the 6 miles back to the trailhead at a fairly brisk pace.


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