Another For the Favorite List--A Four-Lake Hike near Buena Vista

We're on a bit of a schedule, so we're only staying in Buena Vista for three days. We can already tell that we would love to stay here longer. We found lots of hiking trails in this area, but we had to choose just one for this day. We decided on an 8.7-mile hike to Ptarmigan Lake. Our trail head was at 10,669 feet, so it didn't take us long to see some great views.

We thought we were hiking to a single lake today, but we would actually see four. The first was more of a pond, but we took a picture anyway.

As we were walking up the trail, several hikers encouraged us that we were almost to Ptarmigan Lake. But they were mistaken. The second lake was delightful, but it wasn't Ptarmigan Lake.

We love when the surface of a mountain lake is so calm that it reflects the beautiful scenery around it.

Sitting on a rock ledge above the second lake was a beautiful place to pause for a snack.

But that second lake was not the trail's destination, because Ptarmigan Lake is actually another 3/4-mile deeper into the mountains. We're glad to have the AllTrails app on Mark's phone, as we would have missed some more beautiful scenery without it.

It's in this section of meadow tucked between mountain peaks and lakes that we found some beautiful fields of wildflowers.

We finally reached Ptarmigan Lake 4 miles into the hike. We took the obligatory pictures, but we really didn't think this was the prettiest lake of the day.

We saw several people fishing at Ptarmigan Lake, and it was obvious to see why. As we looked down into the clear water, a big group of sizable trout swam by in the shallows. That would be our wildlife picture of the day.

We continued around the lake, and upwards to the saddle that divided the peaks.

We are at 12,300 feet in elevation here, and that gave us another view of a completely different mountain valley and more lakes below. If we were so inclined, we could have continued up this ridge in several directions to add several more 13er peaks to our list of summits.

But instead, we headed down the mountainside, towards another lake that we had spotted. Even though it wasn't on the agenda for today, it might have been our favorite stop. With a snow bank that extended all the way to the water, it made a beautiful picture.

The water was so clear that we could see the rocks on the bottom of the lake before the surrounding mountain reflections covered them.

Because it is hidden and off the trail, we have this little piece of mountain paradise all to ourselves. We have wandered into another of God's wonders! Like they always do, the clouds are gathering this afternoon. They are perfectly reflected in the clear water of this lesser-known-lake.

Mark hiked further over the ridge to get a bigger view of the mountain valley below--spotted with more mountain lakes. We could spend days up here exploring more of the "good views" of the Buena Vista area!

While he was hiking that grueling trek upwards, Denisa was better using her time taking pictures of wildflowers. This is another specimen that we don't remember seeing before. It has fern-like leaves, and seems to only be found in this very high altitude moist meadow.

Those clouds continued to build, and we were glad to be back below tree line by the time the afternoon rains came. It's always a faster walk down-hill, but we made especially good time since we were dodging rain drops. We had to bring out the raincoats today.

These afternoon storms rarely last long. When the gray clouds blew over, we got to see a little blue sky again before we got off the mountain. Because many hikers often miss the second two lakes we found today, we told the few people that were hiking upwards this afternoon not to miss Ptarmigan Lake and our hidden snow-capped lake.

By the time we got back to the car, we had hiked almost 9 miles at high altitude with an elevation gain of 1,683 feet. That's a good workout! With its four lakes, this one is going on the list of favorites! We were blessed to wander more of God's wonders with more "good views" during our beautiful stay at Buena Vista, Colorado.