Last weekend, my best friend, Mike, and I, decided to hike to the Chicago Lakes from Echo Lake. It is a wonderful hike that takes you past multiple water features, including Idaho Springs Reservoir, Chicago Creek, and both Chicago Lakes. The beginning of the hike is considered by some to be a bit drab. This might be because part of the trail is an access road for the reservoir. However, a few small steps away, into the forest, is Chicago Creek, and you’d be hard pressed to call this cascade “drab.”
Once you reach Idaho Springs Reservoir, the scenery on the trail becomes spectacular!
I love the way that the two totally different mountain types come together at the far end of Idaho Springs Reservoir. The reflections are so amazingly clear, and they actually form the shape of another mountain, made of clouds, in the water. We walked across the dam to find an amazing scene of a cabin on the far side. How would you like to wake up here???
From the reservoir, you begin moving though beautiful forests and fields on your way to Chicago Lakes. I’ll post more about the wildflowers in a future post. They have been spectacular this year. The end of the trail is the upper Chicago Lake. The lake itself is beautiful and is surrounded by the mountains on three sides.
Looking back down the valley, toward the lower Chicago Lake, we knew our time up here was to be limited. A storm was rolling up the valley, through which we would have to return, shortly.
The hike through the rain was actually very pleasant, as it was mostly a light, cool mountain rain, that felt good during a long hike. Once we were below the reservoir again, I stepped off the access road to make my way to Chicago Creek in search of a peaceful cascade.
I was not disappointed.