Four summers back, my husband and I stood atop Ypsilon Mountain gazing down at two lakes nestled in an isolated nook 2000 feet (610 m) below the summit, teal water rippling in the sunlight.
“I wanna hike to those lakes,” I said.
It turns out you can! In fact, our friends who were with us on the summit had recently done so and gave us an honest assessment. It’s not an easy hike, they informed us. The last portion is almost entirely a steep scramble, and part of the route goes right up a waterfall.
It definitely sounded challenging, but we weren’t going to let that deter us.
And so, four years later (through no fault of our own, our plans were thwarted in previous attempts by weather and smoke), it was finally time to tackle the journey to Spectacle Lakes.
We pulled into the Lawn Lake Trailhead around 6:45am on a Saturday and snagged the third-to-last spot in the main parking area. Despite the weather forecast of mostly clear skies in the morning, grey clouds loomed overhead. As I stepped out of the car to walk to the bathroom, a gust of wind blew through and it began lightly sprinkling.
Not a great start.
We ended up waiting it out for about 25 minutes, and by the time we hit the trail the clouds were moving out and the sun was poking through.
The first 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of this hike was not new to us, as it’s also the route to Lawn Lake. The only difference between last time and this time was the two moose we spotted way down in the valley below.
For more information on this section of trail and the massive flood that reshaped the landscape more than 40 years ago, I’ll direct you to that post.
This time, when we reached the junction with the Ypsilon Trail, we turned left, following signs toward Ypsilon Lake. The trail crosses the Roaring River and begins a steady and sustained climb for the next 2.7 miles (4.5 km).
After what feels like an endless ascent, the trail tops out and begins to descend toward Ypsilon Lake. The first body of water you come to is Chipmunk Lake, which is really just a small pond. However, from here Ypsilon Lake is just a short distance ahead.
In total, we lost about 200 feet (60 m) of elevation from the high point of the trail down to Ypsilon Lake. It was super fun to climb back up this on the way out.
(Did you catch the sarcasm there?)
We’d been in and out of the clouds as we hiked, and by the time we reached the lake the sky was grey once more. We paused, uncertain how to proceed. Though there is a visible path beyond Ypsilon Lake, the route to Spectacle Lakes is not maintained by the park. It’s steep, rocky, and the latter portion is out in the open with no protection from the weather.
If it rained, we’d have no choice but to turn around.
I was disappointed at the possibility, but we weren’t willing to risk scrambling up wet rocks or getting caught above treeline in a thunderstorm.
At least we’d made it to Ypsilon Lake.
Before making a final decision, we decided to use our InReach to get a weather forecast. It confirmed what the sky was telling us – rain was on the way – but then promised a window of clear skies for the next 2-3 hours.
Maybe we still had a chance!
Sure enough, it started raining just a few minutes later. We donned our rain coats and backpack covers and huddled under a clump of trees for a snack break while the weather did its thing. Ten minutes later, the sky was blue once more.
The trail to Spectacle Lake ascends steeply along the Ypsilon Lake inlet stream, weaving through the forest and forcing us to navigate quite the awkward collection of downed trees.
The trail then crosses the creek twice – once on a decent bridge and once on a narrow bridge – and ascends into a lovely meadow.
For the rest of our hike we’d be out in the open, so we paused once more to assess the weather. The sky was still blue, and despite the earlier rain the rocks were dry, so we decided to go for it.
After an initial jaunt across some talus and a zigzag through the meadow, the remainder of the route essentially involves scrambling up the creek.
After a short distance of scrambling, we reached the crux of the route: a section of smooth, slanted granite slabs.
As I evaluated my options and began to slowly make my way up the edge of the creek on slippery rocks, my husband meandered off to the left for a bathroom break.
From my vantage point, it actually looked like an easier route over where he was. For one thing, it wasn’t right next to the creek which meant the rock was dry. He agreed that it looked like the better option, so while I continued making my way up the creek he went about finding a route up the slabs.
This turned out to be one of those situations where looks were very much deceiving. He made it, but it was right at the upper limit of his comfort and ability level. Going up the creek was definitely the easier option.
On the plus side, we got some pretty cool photos of each other from our opposing positions!
After this initial section, the only possible route is up the creek. So up we went. It was August so the creek wasn’t running at full capacity, meaning it was relatively easy to navigate. However, earlier in the season I could see some of these sections being tricky when the water level is higher.
At last, 0.7 miles (1.1 km), 900 vertical feet (275 m), and more than an hour after leaving Ypsilon Lake, we caught our first glimpse of Spectacle Lakes. And oh wow, are they gorgeous!
The trail kind of peters out here, but we did find a faint path up the hill to our left. From here, we had a view of both lakes and the face of Ypsilon Mountain, including the snow-filled Y-shaped couloir from which it gets its name.
While it is possible to make it over to the second lake, we didn’t feel like navigating the endless piles of boulders… particularly when we already had such a spectacular view from our high point.
Plus, the sky had turned grey once more, meaning we might not be able to stay for long. We quickly snapped a few photos and tried to soak in as much as we could as quickly as we could.
About five minutes later, it was raining yet again.
Thankfully, the rain was light and we still hadn’t heard any thunder, so we decided to put on our rain gear and hide behind a large boulder in hopes that it would blow over.
It did. Five minutes after that, the sky was blue once more. It was one of those days where the weather really couldn’t make up its mind.
In total, we ended up spending about 35 minutes at Spectacle Lakes, the remainder of which was beneath sunny skies. The best part? We were the only ones there!
But eventually, it was time to begin our descent. Scrambling is always slow going, and while we’d largely lucked out with the weather so far, we knew afternoon thunderstorms weren’t far off.
It took about an hour to descend to Ypsilon Lake.
Back on the regular maintained trail, our pace was significantly faster for the remainder of the hike. It was an uneventful journey until the very end; we were about two minutes from the car when the thunderstorms finally caught up to us. Thankfully, we didn’t get too wet.
All in all, it was a day of unpredictable Colorado mountain weather and fortunate timing. I’m glad we had the ability to use our InReach to check the forecast. I’m glad we decided to wait out the rain (multiple times) and hope for the best.
And I’m glad it all worked out.
Spectacle Lakes, you were well worth the effort!
Up next: summiting almost-13er Vasquez Peak
The Important Stuff:
- Getting there: This hike begins from the Lawn Lake Trailhead, which is located at the beginning of Old Fall River Road. Much of Old Fall River Road is one-way (uphill only), so this trailhead can only be reached from the bottom of the road at its junction with US Hwy 34.
- Fees and passes: there is a $30/car daily or $35/car weekly entrance fee to RMNP; America the Beautiful passes are accepted. From May-Oct, if you arrive between 9:00am-2:00pm you will also need a timed entry permit to access this trailhead.
- Hiking: the stats will vary slightly depending on your exact route from Ypsilon to Spectacle Lakes and whether you walk over to the second Spectacle Lake. For us (we did not walk to the second lake), roundtrip distance was 10.6 miles (17 km) with 3200 feet (975 m) of elevation gain.
- Other: I really can’t reiterate enough that this is not a good hike for beginners, for those with a fear of heights, or for those not comfortable with scrambling. The final 0.3 miles (0.5 km) gains 500 feet (150 m) of elevation, and much of this is class 3-4 scrambling.
For more information, see my post on visiting Rocky Mountain National Park.
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