Lower Mohawk Lake
8/24/2022: This was a great trail! Highly recommended. We took spruce Creek trail to Wheeler trail and then up to the waterfalls and then to lower mohawk lake. It has it all: beautiful stream, waterfall, lakes, meadows, forest and great views. We talked to folks who went on just a little bit further to upper mohawk lake, where I wanted to go, and they saw mountain goats. Still lower mohawk lake is absolutely gorgeous. And yes, it gets a little steep and rocky about a half a mile or so before you reach the lake. Put one foot in front of the other and you will be fine.
Key: Waterfall (Continental Falls) | Lakes | Creek | Forest | Meadow | Wildflowers | Beautiful Views | Wildlife | Colorado | US Forest Service | White River National Forest
Gentian
Marg’s Notes: Spruce Creek, Mayflower lake to Mohawk lake. This was a hard hike! Pretty close to our room so we started at 7:30. The spruce Creek trail was very nice, thru forest. After ~2 miles the trail was closed for maintenance so we took the Wheeler Trail. We knew this was going to be our route. We saw a pretty meadow along Wheeler Trail. This us to an upper parking lot, then we started to climb up to Continental Falls. The falls were beautiful, but the climb and elevation gain really got to me. I had to rest at the bottom and have a snack. Then I climbed up a bit. Rod climbed all over! After that we continued to climb to Mayflower Lake. A pretty alpine lake. Then, on up to Mohawk Lake. Another beautiful alpine setting. On the way up we passed by an old miner’s cabin & equipment. We had lunch at Mohawk Lake. It was chilly & breezy but beautiful. After we headed down Rod realized that we didn’t take a selfie, so we went back up! Elevation gain was 1,793. When we got to the upper parking lot we continued on down to where we parked. It was ~2 miles down the road. Had beer when we got back. I went to the hot tub & had a shower! Really tired!
Lasagna, Bread, Salad
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: Starting at about 7:32 and it is probably 41°, if that. This is a very pleasant hike in the beginning and you see lots of spruce, thus the name Spruce Creek. Early on, this is an incredibly peaceful hike through the spruce forest paralleling and sometimes crossing the creek. So very peaceful and there are absolutely no sounds other than me speaking into the microphone, the occasional bird chatter, and the gurgling creek. It is really beautiful. We started at about 10,370 ft or so. We got a beautiful picture of a gentian at about 11,500 feet. We reached Mayflower lake with the detour after 3.2 mi and this is a pretty easy hike so far. Some up, and we've gained about 1,000 ft or just a little bit more. Stunningly beautiful! We arrived at lower Mohawk lake about 11:45. It is absolutely gorgeous! We are such studs 😊. We are at 11,824 feet. We turned around at lower Mohawk lake, number one. However, we have all vowed to come back and do the other six at a later date 😊. We are heading back at 12:04 p.m.
Lunch Spot at Lower Mohawk Lake
People: We met some younger folks, friends having a last adventure before going to three separate colleges, who had gone on up to upper Mohawk lake. They showed us some pictures of some mountain goats they saw up there. They were some very good pictures, and I was jealous. So next time...
Lunch Spot: It was chilly at Lower Mohawk Lake, but we managed to have a bit of lunch. Here is a picture from our lunch spot looking over the lake.