Columbine Lake & Lewis Pass
Columbine Lake is a gorgeous lake in the high alpine near Telluride, Colorado. It is anchored by Lookout Peak, on the ridge at the north side of Ophir Pass. The lake can be reached from a trailhead off of Highway 550, just south of Red Mountain Pass, or another trail off of Ophir Pass Road. In addition to Columbine, we planned to hike over Lewis Pass to visit Lewis Lake, deeper in the Telluride backcountry.
We took the trail off Highway 550, which climbed switchbacks through the forest to reach a basin to the east of Columbine Lake. Once we reached this basin, we had great views of Red Mountain 3 across the Million Dollar Highway. We ascended a rocky pass and into the next basin on our way to the lake. Unlike our other hikes in the San Juan Mountains on this trip., the area around Columbine Lake was littered with snow drifts. We crossed more than ten of these snow drifts over the course of the hike. It was slow going through these sections, and with wet boots, we eventually made it to the lake.
Much of Columbine Lake was still frozen. The ice on the lake looked like clouds in a deep blue sky. It was a really great way to see the lake. We worked our way from east to west around the lake, toward Lookout Peak at the southwest corner. After we had our fill of Columbine, we made our way up Lewis Pass, crossing more snow drifts. When we reached the summit of Lewis, we got hit with a cold gust of wind blowing out of the adjacent basin. The entire basin containing Lewis Lake was filled with snow (photos above). This was unexpected given how low the snow totals had been that year in the San Juans, but the cold wind reminded us of why that snow hadn’t melted by mid-June. We started down from the Pass, but quickly realized that we would be post-holing to get to Lewis Lake. We settled for several photos of this pristine backcountry and turned around.
On the way back, we stopped again at Columbine Lake. It was definitely worth two visits! We then made our way through the snow and back to the trailhead. This hike was more challenging than we had anticipated, mainly due to the snow and partly to the high elevation. It was great seeing Columbine Lake mostly frozen, but this hike would certainly be worth repeating later in the summer or fall to enjoy it in warmer conditions..
