Date: September 25, 2020

Miles: 9.6 miles

Elevation Gain: 3041 feet

Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

Time: 5 hr 30 min total

Trail Head:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/booth-lake–2

Notes:

We peep’d some leaves this weekend! I love when the aspens change gold in the mountains. This year, the window is supposed to be pretty short, so we spent the weekend hiking around fall colors. Our first trek was to Booth Lake, in Vail. Most people just hike the ~4.5 mile trail to Booth Falls, but we were feeling ambitious and wanted to cross off this alpine lake. It was definitely way more scenic than the falls— plus, a great gradual climb.

The trailhead parking lot is extremely limited, but it’s close to a free bus stop with a shuttle that stops throughout the Vail area. The beginning of the trail was pretty wide from frequent use and immediately begins to climb elevation. Here we hiked through golden aspens and willows, passing over a small creek a few times before reaching the “falls”. I’m sure in the spring time the falls are more exciting, but this time of year it was a little underwhelming. Once at the falls, the trail climbs from the base of the creek with a few steep eroded switchbacks. The trail then gains elevation more gradually, following the creek.

Around 3.5 miles we reached the subalpine tundra, with beautiful views behind us of Vail, Holy Cross and the canyon below. The last stretch to the lake was a little rocky, but the view of the Gore Range was worth it. Booth Lake was beautiful! It was really big for an alpine lake. We had the lake to ourselves for a stretch of time. No wildlife, but lots of goat fur. Despite the elevation gain being over 3K, the trail felt great since it was so spread out!