This will be a quick blog for a quick hike. Brady Lake and Sopris Lake are neighboring entities isolated far out in the Holy Cross Wilderness of Colorado, closest by road to the small town of Minturn. The hike had been meant as a something to do midway through a camping trip near the larger Homestake Reservoir, though it ended up being the only hike of the trip, as we ended up cutting our camping short.

Following washboard-laden dirt roads past the already packed Missouri Lakes trail, we made our way up early morning to the smaller reservoir at the Brady Lake trailhead. We were happy to find significantly fewer cars here as we began the hike.

The trail closely followed Sopris Creek, which was at this downstream point an amalgam of several creeks further up the valley flowing from Brady, Sopris, and Esther lakes. Despite all the water near us, the pine-heavy air lacked humidity, a symptom of Colorado’s ongoing drought.

Numerous social trails branched off from the main Brady Lake trail, and at points some confusion arose over the correct way forward. This wasn’t helped by the fact that downed trees blocked the way in several areas. Still, following what appeared to be the most-used route served us well.

The route became more steep after taking a left at what our best guess was the official fork in the trail. It wasn’t long before granite peaks poked out above the trees. We were stunned to find the view open up after a particular bend in the trail at the pond just before Brady Lake. There, like a slap in the face, was the Continental Divide standing over us.

Just beyond the pond (sort of the water body equivalent to a false summit) was Brady Lake. It was, by far, the most visually magnificent lake we had hiked to in a long time.

We spent some time meandering around the like, relaxing and taking in the scene. Only a handful of other hikers were present on the shoreline, all of whom kept to themselves.

Once we’d had our fill of Brady Lake, we sought out the trail over to Sopris Lake. This turned out to be a small challenge at first, as the trail was not clearly marked. The trail we did find was, again, littered with fallen trees and impossible to follow directly. However, it was scenic as all get out, and ultimately our map allowed us to find the way over to Sopris without any real trouble.

Circling around to the east end of Sopris, we found the trail again just past a small marshy area. The return hike went by quickly, and it was pleasant having different scenery on the way back (our hikes don’t often involve loops).

Upon returning to the car, we had clocked roughly 5 miles distance and just shy of 900 ft of gain. We had seen at most 10 other people the entire hike. These were great stats, considering what a beautiful destination the hike had taken us to. We weaved around the dozens of cars crammed up against the Missouri Lakes trailhead on our way out of the Holy Cross Wilderness, satisfied with the day.

Thanks for reading!

~Sky & Ty

(Photography courtesy of Skyler, words courtesy of Tyler)