Our hike to a lake in the South San Juan Wilderness was nothing short of eventful. It started with a pleasant hike through high alpine meadows to a beautiful emerald green lake filled with big Rio Grande Cutthroat trout, and ended with a harrowing hike back dodging thunderstorms. It was an emotional day that included some of the best fishing and some of the most beautiful fish we’ve ever experienced!
By the third day of our Colorado road trip we had explored quite a few creeks and rivers in the South San Juan Wilderness, so we turned our attention to a lake that was alleged to have Rio Grande Cutthroats. The trailhead of this lake was not easy to reach. We drove over 20 miles on dirt roads and the “parking area” is merely a turn off that could fit 3, maybe 4 cars.
Thunderstorms had developed in the afternoon every day of the trip so far and the day we did this hike was no different. We left our little cabin on the San Juan River early so we had plenty of time to hike the 7.4 miles round trip and fish, hopefully before the storms rolled in.
The first mile of the hike is moderately uphill until it reaches the high point at 12,200 ft of elevation. This part of the hike is mostly through lush alpine meadows with a few stands of firs. Even in the first week of August there were still quite a few flowers out – likely because of the strong monsoon this summer. We would imagine this part of the hike would be even more spectacular a month earlier.
There’s a short section of the hike that joins one of the triple crown trails and at this point the trail traverses a steep ridge and the views south and east really open up.
The high point of the trail is near the tarn pictured below and from this point the trail goes over a saddle and down into a remote valley where the lake sits in the South San Juan Wilderness.
After gaining 500 ft in the first mile, the next 2.7 miles fall 1300 ft. This is not typical of an alpine lake hike, which usually entails grinding uphill to get to the lake. It was a nice little twist. The trail is very nicely graded as it descends into the valley full of lush undergrowth and a fir forest that was half alive and half dead from bark beetles.
This longer section of the hike reminded us of some of the lush trails in Glacier National Park, including the strong bear vibes. We should mention at this point in the hike we had not seen a single other hiker. Luckily there were no bear footprints or poop or berries to indicate any bears nearby. It was probably the most remote we felt on our entire Colorado trip thus far.
The trail crossed quite a few spring fed creeks that were crystal clear and descending rapidly down the valley. Many parts of the trail were muddy or had turned into shallow running creeks. The amount of wild flower bushes along this section of the trail was mind blowing, and like the alpine meadows above, would be quite the sight in early July.
Eventually the trail turned a corner and we spotted our first of several downed trees. After the tenth or so downed tree, we finally got a glimpse of the lake at the bottom of a couple jagged peaks.
The trail dropped us right at the log jammed outlet of the lake. We were immediately struck by the beautiful blue green waters of the lake, framed by lush green banks and tall peaks. And there were fish rising to boot!
It was nearing 11 AM when we started fishing. We started with dry flies since they seemed to be actively feeding on the surface. We spotted plenty of cruisers and tried casting our flies in front of them, but could not get any of them to bite. Many would come within a few inches of the fly to investigate, only to then refuse and swim away – ugh!
After at least 45 minutes of rejection, we took a break to eat lunch and reconsider our fishing strategy. The new strategy: go underwater. Cory switched to his favorite fly of the summer – a tungsten bead soft hackle hare’s ear and almost immediately hooked up to a beautiful Rio Grande Cutthroat!
For some reason the fish were extremely picky with surface presentations, but would literally eat anything presented subsurface. The other successful fly we used was Alyssa’s favorite orange scud – aka “the shrimp.” The next hour and a half was the most memorable fishing of our entire trip. We landed large cutthroat after large cutthroat and lost count of how many fish we caught. It was epic!
One funny thing we noticed as we were catching all these fish: Alyssa tended to catch the colored-up males and Cory tended to catch the duller females. It was an odd coincidence, but who could complain about these fish?!
As we fished, we watched the clouds start to flare up to our north and move toward the lake. Around 1:30 PM they started looking nasty, so we packed up and started the journey back to the car hoping we would dodge the storm. But as we reached the saddle, we got caught under a cloud that rained and then hailed.
We decided to take cover under a group of shorter trees in the forest before the trees started thinning out above, which turned out to be a good thing, as thunder and lightning began in the valley closer to the lake. It looked to be dumping on the lake – we were lucky to have left when we did.
Despite avoiding that rain cell, we had the most exposed part of the hike between us and the car and we did NOT want to be walking in open meadows at 12,000 ft with thunder and lightning striking around us. It was tricky and nerve-wracking deciding when to leave cover but when we got some glimpses of blue sky ahead, we took our chances and continued on.
As we walked by the tarn at the high point, we spotted another cloud letting loose about a mile down the trail. It started to sprinkle and thunder started booming. We immediately stopped, sat down to make ourselves small, and waited for the cloud to pass. It was incredibly stressful sitting there above tree line hoping a lightning bolt would not come down near by. Luckily, the ominous cloud moved relatively quickly and we resumed our hike. The last mile of the trail was extremely flooded and muddy, but we were so relieved to be out of thunderstorm danger that we trudged on without a care.
We were incredibly grateful to make it back to the care unscathed. That hike back is not something either of us want to experience again. We felt helpless and humbled by mother nature. Hopefully our story can serve as a reminder of the dangers of lighting and being above tree line – try not to put yourselves in this position and leave earlier than you need to and read about lightning safety!
Our harrowing return hike juxtaposed with the highs of some of the best fishing we have ever experienced made for an extremely emotional day that we won’t soon forget.
