Hiking on Your Honeymoon? You bet!
Mini-Trip Report of Colleen and Matt's Honeymoon Hike to Hanging Lake. August 2004
If you're in the Vail area, you absolutely *have* to hike up to Hanging Lake. It is a relatively easy hike (about 1,000ft vertical gain, 1.2 miles each way) with very rewarding views! Not to mention, when the trail starts getting steep they have put in guard rails to protect anybody from seriously falling. If you want to avoid the crowds go in fall or winter when there will be less tourists visiting.
Colleen and I had just hiked Castle Peak (14,265ft) earlier in the week and so we were tired, but wanted an easy but rewarding hike to finish off the week. Hanging Lake was an obvious choice being 10 miles east of Gleenwood Springs along I-70. You can't miss it, there are signs everywhere directing you where to go.
Just as we started out of the parking lot along the concrete trail, Colleen took a moment to point out that this is a very dangerous hike (haha).
Truth is, if you take a nalgene of water for every person, you'll be ok. If you want to get really romantic, you could plan ahead and pack a picnic lunch to eat up at Spouting Rock which is just a few hundred yards higher than Hanging Lake.
The trail itself reminds me a lot of a hike in the Flatirons near Boulder. It's pretty steep, but very easy to follow and not get lost. It's wide enough to accomodate the hordes of people hiking up it during the summer. As far as hard parts, there are none. The only relatively hard section is at the very, very end where somebody has put in guardrails to help you hike. Check out this picture.
Once you get to Hanging Lake, you'll immediately notice how clean the water is. Notice the school of fish underwater in this picture.
And here is the happy honeymoon couple.
Finally, here is a couple pictures of Hanging Lake itself.
We didn't get any pictures of Spouting Rock because it started to rain, and we were in a hurry to get down, but here is a view showing Gleenwood Canyon.
Furthermore, if you get tired, there are plenty of places to take a break, like this shelter, where Colleen is posing.
This hike can quickly be done on any day of the year where it's not raining or snowing and takes very little planning. It's a good hike for out-of-stater's to do.
--Matt
Time:
| Drive |
Ascent |
On Summit |
Descent |
Drive |
Total |
| 3 h |
1 h |
30 min |
45 min |
3.25 h |
2.25 h |
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