Echo Lake and Chicago Lakes Trails
From: Snowshoe Routes: Colorado’s Front Range by Alan Apt
- Round Trip: 2 Miles; Three miles to Chicago Lakes
- Difficulty: Easy
- Skill Level: Novice
- Elevation Gain: 50 feet
This is an easy, almost flat family route around a sparkling frozen lake surrounded by sweeping views of soaring Front Range peaks.
Sticking to the trail is exactly as described. The description mentions a “short side trip” that seemed like it went straight up. Damn elevation kicks my ass. I never did strap on the snowshoes as the snow was hard packed and other people on the trail didn’t even have any. It took longer to get here than it did to actually do the trail.
I did get to use my bumper hook for the first time to pull out a poor couple who somehow managed to trap their car in a snow bank “flipping a bitch”. I still can’t figure out how he did it. He also made matters worse by trying the “floor it while reverse” method to get free.
My GPS Stats:
- Distance: 2.55 miles
- Time: 1:18:52
- Elevation gain: 1,995 ft
- Min elevation: 10,496 ft
- Max Elevation: 12,380 ft
View Echo Lake and Chicago Lakes Trail in a larger map