Two rules of thumb when going on day hikes in Colorado: always try to leave before sunrise, and never take east-bound I-70 on a Sunday afternoon. We managed one of these on a recent Sunday when we left for the Vail area to make the hike up to Deluge Lake. The sun hadn’t yet crested the mountains as we started an immediate uphill through an aspen grove.

As the line of sunlight finally did begin approaching, we could feel the impending heat wave. The day had been forecasted as a scorcher, something we had hoped to avoid with an early start. The trees were dense alongside the trail, which would certainly help, as would being near water for most of the hike.

Unfortunately, these would be half-measures on such a strenuous hike. Not to mention that abundant trees meant no breeze would make it through to us, and water meant mosquitoes in this area. Indeed, as we approached Deluge Creek, we began to be swarmed. Clearly it was a bumper season for insects.

Despite conditions concurrent and impending, we made it to a flatter section of trail after mile three. Fording a stretch of creek into an open meadow, we got our first glimpses of an iconic Gore Range ridge ahead.

It was in this meadow that we began to see other signs of humanity on the trail, despite the trailhead parking lot below having been packed full. Even so, it was only a couple of backpackers that we passed in the meadow. The trail took us uphill again near the end of the valley, and the trees thinned, opening up the clear blue skies.

We rounded turns in the trail that we were certain would be the last before Deluge Lake, but kept getting disappointed. It wasn’t until topping a plateau above the trees at the far end of the valley that we actually neared the lake. The trail disappeared among the high-altitude grasses and the icy water was revealed over another hill.

The alpine lake itself was fine, but the true beauty of this destination turned out to be the views of the ridges and distant peaks visible from the plateau. Mountain of the Holy Cross was visible among the other peaks, and looking out from atop cliffs we had what was the first breath-taking view on this blog in a while.

After enjoying the scene for probably longer than necessary, we made our way back down the valley. The sun had reached its height by this time, as had the day’s heat, making the return trek miserable. Despite it being downhill, it seemed an age had passed by the time we reached the car again, sweat-soaked, dehydrated, and aching.

That was, of course, secondary to the rule of thumb which we had broken. We spent the next 5 hours in stop-and-go traffic on I-70. Despite this, it had been a good day. (The app that we use to track mileage and altitude is down at the time of writing this post. The post will be updated once this is online).

~Sky & Ty