Hike up to Lake Charles & Mystic Lake, Holy Cross Wilderness

 






The very thought of waking up at 3.30 a.m. for any activity instills a measure of laziness for sure. But if it has to be a hike up to an alpine lake in a remote wilderness area high up in the mountains then I am always game.  Holy Cross Wilderness is in the western part of Colorado between Vail and Aspen. This early morning drive from home took around 2.5 hours with a pit stop in between. The Aspen chapter of the Colorado Mountain Club organized this 4th of July hike. We met up in the town of Eagle and then car-pooled to the trailhead which is right next to Sylvan Lake State Park. The weather was beautiful with blue skies. The hike is through a lush forest of aspen and coniferous trees. I just love the smell of forest trees and bush. Its addictive. There is a gentle stream flowing past by all along the trail. The floor is carpeted with so many different kind of wildflowers this time of the year. After an ascent of around 1900 Feet and 5.5 miles in, we reached Lake Charles. All along the trail our group of nine was the only one until we reached the first lake. There were a group of three men from Georgia who had just finished camping overnight and were heading back. They mentioned that  they had underestimated the altitude as one of them had got a pretty bad bout of high altitude sickness the night before. Lake Charles is in the lower valley surrounded by tall peaks. We decided to hike another 1 mile and 100 feet up to Mystic lake. With even more wildflowers on the valley floor, the hike up to Mystic lake is enchanting. After four hours of hiking we finally reached the beautiful Mystic lake which is surrounded by scenic snow clad mountains on three sides. We spent around an hour relishing packed lunch along with beautiful scenery and blue skies. While we were about to head down, we heard a loud bang and were surprised to see a big rock slide higher up in the mountains. As it was a clear day, we surmised that the mountain goats were responsible for it. The hike back down to the trailhead took us only 3 hours. It was really wonderful hiking with such a great group of people  who were extremely nice. While we were heading back to Eagle we saw thick smoke covering the sky to the west. The team members from the Aspen valley mentioned about the big fire that was started by two irresponsible kids who trespassed at a shooting range and fired a few rounds of tracer bullets and accidentally started the big fire. Our team members looked concerned as there houses were very close to the fire. After a little over 2 hours of driving without any traffic it was great being back home. It felt really great doing 13 miles with around 2000 feet of gain in a day. Not bad for a single days worth of work. It was truly a memorable 4th of July!!!  


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