In case you were wondering, thanks to us Lost Lake is no longer lost.

Well I’m not exactly sure that it was ever technically lost, but if it really was then we’ve managed to track it down and geotag it for all of those who were wondering where it went.

USFS/USDA/NOAA/NGA/anybody else who needs the details, just give me a call.
Technically we headed out to hike from the Hessie Townsite Trailhead not knowing what all of our options were, but the Lost Lake trail was the only one in the area that wasn’t Colorado-style brutal so we picked it out of the options.  Protrails mentions to arrive early as this is a very popular trailhead, and they weren’t kidding – we had to park about a half mile from the trailhead due to the amount of cars there and one section of rough and flooded road.  It might be time to trade the Accord in for a Jeep!

The route up starts fairly flat, through a dense forest, then gradually begins to climb out of the valley while criss-crossing over a rushing river that provides multiple spectacular small falls.  Some of the trail becomes rocky but never overly difficult, and we saw numerous families with baby-in-a-knapsack backpack carriers and small children walking.

Those same families with children are the only drawback to Lost Lake once you make it there.  The relatively easy hike means easy accessibility which means more noise than one would expect miles from civilization.  Children, well, have to be children.  A short stop for photo ops, a quick loop around the lake, and back out the way we came.  Only this time it’s all downhill and quite easy.

On the way up we had noticed a plastic bottle, a can, various bits of rubbish off the trail so we placed them on the trail where we could grab them on the way back down.  If you spend any time in the great outdoors, please pick your crap up!  Luckily, Colorado is probably cleaner than most places due to the high percentage of people who are extremely enviro-conscious, so it’s surprising to see rubbish left behind on a fairly popular trail in the outdoors-aware republic that is Colorado.