Herman Lake
8/25/2022: Great hike! It is steep in the beginning, somewhat level in the middle, and then the last .7 miles is steep. Absolutely beautiful at the top around the lake. Great rocks to lean back and recover on. Views are incredible, lake is marked with granite boulders and the quiet is what you want in backcountry hiking.
Key: Lake | Creek | Forest | Aspen | Fir | Meadows | Wildflowers | Beautiful Views | Wildlife | Colorado | US Forest Service | Arapaho National Forest
1.1 Mile Sit Spot
Marg’s Notes: Herman Gulch. We had about a 45 minute drive towards Denver on I-70 to get to the trailhead. Started hiking at 7:45. This was a challenging hike. We went 7 miles with an elevation gain of 1723. It was beautiful! We went thru aspen groves, alpine meadows and fir forests. It was cool when we started but not really cold. Pretty much uphill the whole way. We took our time & rested & drank water along the way. The 4 of us pretty much stayed together on the way up. Herman Lake was at the end of the trail. 12,000 ft high! Rod took lots of pics. We ate our lunch at the lake eventho it was only 11:15. We were hungry! We stretched out on a big rock to rest! 😊 Clouds started building up as we were leaving. There was a cool breeze too. Pam & I were back to the car @ 1:25. Rod and Jim about 10 min later. The hike down was pretty easy! Back to our room for a rest. Then, Rod & I went hot tubbing & showering!
Dinner @ Robbie’s Tavern in the resort. Very good!
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: We are leaving at 7:44 a.m. we expect to go just over 7 miles. We started at 10,300 feet. You come to the streams edge at about 0.6 mi and a good photographer could probably get a few good pictures. It's almost a little waterfall or a series of little waterfalls. At 0.7 mi you plateau out a little bit after about a 420 ft elevation game. Most of the road noise is gone at about 0.5 miles or so but you occasionally pick up some dregs of noise. At least for the first mile or so it is a very pretty and very peaceful walk through a forest. There is a wonderful log at 1.1 mi to set, take a drink of water and be an old fart. At 2.7 mi you start the final push at a very heavy incline. Put one foot in front of you.
Lunch Spot
Marg says, and I agree, that although we haven't been to Switzerland, Herman Lake is what we would think of if we were to be in Switzerland it is just gawd-awful beautiful, rocky with very little vegetation, and beautiful sweeping valleys with green little meadows with water running and a beautiful lake. Reached the lake at about 11:25 and are having lunch at 12000 ft. We are leaving the lake at 12:15. The walk back through the forest going on a gradual downhill with the clouds overhead and just a sprinkling of rain is incredibly pleasant. We finished the hike in 5 hours and 45 minutes. Of course, we could have gone much faster, but we wanted to stop and smell the roses…and take pictures 😝.
People: We met a couple about our age who live here. In great shape and they were going to go up one of the higher peaks, over 13,000 ft. They said that the best place to hike around here is north of I-70. They said that's where all the really good hikes are. A good thing to remember for the next time we come back, and we plan on being back.