Snowshoeing near Naylor Lake

Last weekend, the Coronavirus and other news were weighing on me. The constant bombardment of the news can be bad for all of us. I know it occasionally gets to me. The best thing I find is to get outside and away from it all. Snowshoeing near Naylor Lake seemed like a good plan!

Original Plan

I had several objectives for this trip if everything worked out. The first, of course, was to get outside snowshoeing near Naylor Lake, Silver Dollar Lake, and, possibly, Murry Reservoir. The lake is off Guanella Pass road where the road is currently closed. Putting on the snowshoes and traipsing around in the winter wonderland is always helpful for my state of mind.

An added plus was that Stellarium said that the moon, Jupiter and Saturn were going to be in the lower southwest sky around 6PM. My thought was to start a little later in the day and wrap snowshoeing up around 4:30PM. I’d hang around, have some hot chocolate, and try to get a good shot of the night sky. As usual, not all went according to plan.

Unexpected Delays

I headed out around 10:30 and had a few local errands to do before I headed west. Things progressed well until the sign on C-470 announced traffic delays to Idaho Springs. Hmmm, didn’t think to check the CDOT site since it was a weekday.

The “traffic delays” turned out to be a major delay due to construction in Idaho Springs. What a mess. The backup started at Floyd Hill and lasted through Idaho Springs with an elapsed time of an hour just to go that segment. It was like a weekend ski day!

Once you’re in it, there isn’t much to do. I had good music playing which allowed me to chill and just roll with it. It was still better than sitting at home. Next time I’ll check traffic.

Eventually I escaped the traffic and caught the road up to Guanella Pass at Georgetown. The road was in good shape with the expected snow pack and slick spots. The temp was around 20 with cloudy skies when I arrived at the parking area.

Starting Out Snowshoeing near Naylor Lake

The parking for this hike is at the intersection of Guanella Pass Road and Naylor Lake Road. CDOT keeps a parking area there cleared of snow. There was only one other vehicle there so it looked like I’d have plenty of private time on the trail.

There was a fresh layer of snow on top of hard-packed snow from previous hikers. This made the trail pretty easy to follow and great for snowshoes. It was the first time I’d had my snowshoes out in several years so I’m glad it wasn’t deep powder. My snowshoe skills aren’t that great and I’m sure I’d been flipping snow all over the place with them while struggling to get around.

The climb up from the road wasn’t too bad although it did require me to open up my coat and let in some cool air. I’d opted for my ski jacket and it was a little warm for the hike up. Opening up the zipper vents and the front made it just right.

There were several tracks in the fresh snow. A group of large hoof prints showed up in front of me. I’m not a good enough at identifying tracks to know if these were moose or elk. Either way, it was still pretty cool to see them.

Peacefulness in the Winter Wonderland

Trudging through the snow on snowshoes makes more noise than hiking. But wow, when you stop, the silence of the winter in the forest is absolutely amazing. I’d occasionally hear a few birds. Otherwise, it was a quiet, relaxing time. What a refreshing break from the crazy, hectic world we’re in these days. It was, however, a little too cold to meditate. 🙂

Onward and Upward

At about .75 miles, the trail splits. You have the option to go to the right and head towards Naylor Lake, or stay left and head up to Silver Dollar Lake and beyond. I stayed to the left.

This section of the trail eventually opened up into a meadow. From there, it climbed up a few hillsides and gets above the treeline. The wind was blowing pretty strong and it was snowing. I was still plenty warm with my ski pants, ski jacket, and base layers. My beard was getting a little crusty as you can see from the picture below. That was a new experience for me!

Silver Dollar Lake? Maybe not.

Shortly after these pictures, I hiked through a small ravine. On the far side, the snow had drifted fairly deep and the trail was a steeper incline. I struggled a bit trying to find a way to cross the drifts. Eventually I got out the ice axe and tried to traverse across while digging in with the snowshoes as I went. I still spent most of my time sliding down and clambering back up. After a while, I decided my mom would not approve of what I was doing and decided to turn back. It really wasn’t that bad and, in hindsight, I should have gone up the ravine a bit to then be able to traverse down and across. Maybe next time.

More exploring

I turned back and thought I’d go over to Naylor Lake. From my higher perch, I could see there were some cabins by the lake and wondered what they were like. On one of the steeper sections, I tried to glissade down the incline while holding up my snowshoes. It was a pretty slow glide down the slope. Still, pretty fun.

Heading back up the road to Naylor Lake ended up taking me to the private property gate. I’m sure I could have still gone up there. That whole “keep out” thing isn’t clear, is it? I’m sure the property owner feels it is pretty clear. Instead, I chose to rest and relax, enjoying more of the winter peacefulness of the forest. After a short rest, I continued back down. The trek yielded a few more good pictures.

Return Trip

It was about 3:30 when I was back at the Jeep. The weather was not going to provide any clear night shots. It seemed like the best bet was to head home and maybe I’d be there in time to take the shots from there.

On the way to Georgetown, I took a few pictures including of two deer that posed for me.

Traffic was a bear just as it had been on the way up. Once I made it through Idaho Springs, however, things cleared up and it wasn’t bad the rest of the way. I quickly headed out to Tanya’s backyard to get a few shots of the moon, Jupiter and Saturn convergence. The view was better in real life. 🙂

Summary of the trip

Snowshoeing near Naylor Lake is something I’d like to do more often. I’m sure I can make it to Silver Dollar Lake next time. I may explore the other side of the pass and try Shelf Lake on snowshoes.

For me, getting out into the forest is a great way to improve my mood! See you out there!!