Before my husband and I drove home from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in early October, where we celebrated our anniversary, we had one more sight we wanted to visit. As we drove early in the morning alongside the Colorado River, within the steep fall foliage lined Glenwood Canyon walls, we headed towards the most popular hike in Colorado, and one of the most unique and beautiful sights in the state--Hanging Lake. Since moving to Colorado, I had seen many photos of Hanging Lake, which is located high up in a canyon that branches off Interstate 70, about seven miles east of Glenwood Springs. Along with the Maroon Bells Mountains, which we also saw on this trip--click here to read that post--it is one of the most photographed places in Colorado. I was filled with trepidation, however, as although the hike is short one, at 1.2 mile, it is also very steep, a thousand feet elevation gain to an elevation of 7,200 feet (2194.5 m), and the trail is full of rocks and boulders to climb over, giving it a "difficult" rating.
Hanging Lake is part of the White River National Forest, and attracts 1,100 visitors on an average day in summer! As Colorado's population grows, and the state becomes more popular with visitors, many new regulations will soon go into effect limiting visitation to protect the fragile natural beauty of sites such as Hanging Lake. More about that later in this post. We hoped that since we were visiting mid week, and after peak season, there would not be many people on the trail, but when we pulled into the parking lot a Ranger told us we would have to wait on a line of cars for a parking spot for an estimated 45 minutes!
Happily, our wait was less than thirty minutes, and we parked and began walking towards the trail head.
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The views along this flat section of the long walkway are beautiful. There was a sign explaining how the 1.5 acre lake was formed by a geologic fault that caused the lake bed to drop away from the valley floor above. Dogs, fishing, swimming, and camping are not allowed in the area to protect the fragile environment.
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When we reached the trail head we soon found out that the description that there were many rocks to climb over was not an exaggeration!
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Up, up, up, my husband and I climbed. Sometimes the rocks were arranged as steps, and sometimes there were brief sections of rocky soil. All the while as we climbed Dead Horse Creek flowed down, at times in small waterfalls. The moist canyon air allowed ferns to grow, an unusual sight to see in high altitude and usually low humidity Colorado environment.
The trail switch backed over the creek, with around seven wooden footbridges. There were a few benches along the way, near some of the footbridges, to allow for rest.
The trail is narrow, so slower hikers (us) yielded to faster hikers, both going up and down. Everyone we met on the trail was very encouraging. Most of the hikers were in their 20's to 40's and there were many families. The hikers that were descending kept telling us to keep going, that the sight was worth it! One lady told me to be sure to continue up to see Spouting Rock after seeing the lake, which I'm glad she did!
At one point I turned around to see how high we had traveled up the canyon and saw this beautiful sight!
When we reached these pretty waterfalls we knew we were in the last stretch of the trail! The last stretch is also the steepest and narrowest part of the hike, so I really had to put forth my last burst of energy to make it up the very steep and high rock steps. We climbed and climbed and finally reached flat ground where we saw a sign for Spouting Rock on a continuation of the trail even higher. Instead, we walked ahead to a boardwalk, turned a corner, and saw our first sight of.....
Hanging Lake!
What a beautiful and breathtaking place it is! We admit that tears of joy came to our eyes when we first saw it, The tears were a combination of realizing we actually accomplished a very strenuous hike for two retirees, and tears because it was even more beautiful than we hoped! Photos just don't do the whole scene justice.
Bridal Veil Falls run over travertine walls into.....
..crystal clear aquamarine colored water. The color is formed by carbonate minerals in the water.
Above is a video I took of Hanging Lake that is on my blog's facebook site at this link. (You may have to turn the sound on by touching the "x" next to the microphone on the lower right corner) As you can see, and hear, the water flows quickly, and the pretty foliage around the lake bed is lush and gives an exotic garden appearance to the lake.
There is a nice boardwalk with benches that surrounds most of the lake that we walked around to take photos.
A close up of one section of the falls...
..and the other section.
We walked around to the far shore where the iconic tree log lies in the water. There is a sign that says "please stay off the log" but sadly there have been instances of people not doing so. Happily, all the visitors behaved themselves during our visit. Any contact with the water has an effect of its ecological balance, so visitors are asked to have no contact with it. This website has good FAQ's regarding visiting Hanging Lake.
The autumn foliage surrounding the lake really enhanced its beauty.
One last look!
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After spending time at Hanging Lake we felt rested enough to climb even higher on the trail to Spouting Rock. As you can see by the notice added to the sign, changes are coming to how many people can visit Hanging Lake and Spouting Rock. Over 150,000 people visited the area in 2016, and the US Forest Service has realized that measures need to be taken to ensure safety and to preserve the natural beauty of the area, especially because, sadly, in the past few years there have been incidents of vandalism in the area and people not obeying rules. There are PDF files on this US Forest Service website that explain the reasons behind the change and the proposals being considered. Most likely visitors will be required to have a permit (free), and will be limited in number, and will be required to use a shuttle bus service to and from the parking area during peak season, most likely May to October.
We climbed higher and were amazed to see Spouting Rock!
This is a video of me standing near the falls on my Mille Fiori Facebook facebook page at this link. (Again, you may have to turn on the sound) As you can see and hear, they are pretty powerful!
To see what the falls look and sound like from behind it, go to my MilleFioriFavoriti Instagram at this link. Place your cursor over the photo to see the video play arrow on the Instagram page.
You can also follow my entire Instagram feed on this link to see more photos from my travels and my everyday life.
Hiking back down the 1.2 mile trail to the parking lot took us almost as long as hiking up the trail. We regretted that we did not have our hiking poles to help us with stability. The 1,000 foot steep trail down was hard on my knees and feet as momentum and gravity was carrying me forward and I had to be careful not to fall. We were tired, but we were also a little giddy and exhilarated! The hike is expected to take 2 to four hours to accomplish round trip, and we were in the 4 hour range because we also stopped for water breaks and to allow faster hikers to pass us.
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We were back on the "grand boulevard" of Interstate highway 70, that runs through the 12.5 mile Glenwood Canyon. The canyon section of the interstate is called the most celebrated part of interstate highway system in the United States.
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