In a previous post, Order of the White Lottis, an account was made of trying to reach Henry Lake in the Fossil Ridge Wilderness. That attempt didn’t work out, and so we decided to give the South Lottis trail another go this last Saturday (October 24th). We departed Gunnison around noon and made the drive through Taylor Canyon to the trailhead, set among old evergreens and towering unnamed peaks.

The trail started out dry and clear, but it wasn’t long before we were among the recent snowfall. No human footprints marred the white landscape, a good sign that we wouldn’t encounter any of the Gunnison area’s many hunters.

The South Lottis trail crosses a myriad of streams along its route, and the bright sun made several of these crossings slick with snow-melt. Whether rock-hopping or shuffling over fallen tree trunks, we found our way over every waterway.

The higher in altitude we went, the deeper the snow became, and the more our path was obscured. We reached several areas where the way forward was less than apparent, but we pressed on.

The South Lottis trail forks at about five miles in. Going left will take a hiker over Gunsight Pass and to the Lamphier Lakes. The right fork takes the hiker into an isolated basin, where Henry Lake resides. With the snow obscuring our path, Skyler and I just stuck to the right as best as we could, hoping that we would be on the correct route once we reached the fork. Fox tracks led us for part of the way as we questioned if we might fail at our objective again.

Because of our late start, the sun was already setting after just a couple of hours. The snow started to freeze up again, as did we. If it weren’t for the recognition of the final ascent, we might have turned back. Instead, we followed steep switchbacks up a large slope. Upon reaching the top, we found the view to be far from disappointing.

Frigidity made our excitement brief. It was a long hike back to the car, and the sun wouldn’t be there to help us for much longer. We quickly hiked the seven miles back to the trailhead, even running at some points. The return seemed to stretch on forever. By the time we were back, it was well after dark. The 14 mile hike had been far more arduous than expected, but we had made it happen anyhow.

And with that, a happy Halloween to all. See you again soon!

~Ty and Sky

(Pictures courtesy of Skyler Stanley, words courtesy of Tyler Brant)