Mitchell Lake, the first stop 1 mile into the hike.
Heading up to Blue, looking back at Mitchell Lake
This was one of the nicest hikes we'd done. It's 3 pretty easy miles to Blue Lake one way, and there are so many nice payoffs along the way: streams and creeks, ponds, wildflowers and rugged peaks to look at. When we got there, we struck up a conversation with a native who was fishing, and learned that it stays so cold up there that the wildflowers barely come out before its time for the next round of frost and snow to start falling. So the first week in September saw them just popping out everywhere, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to be too long before the frost sent them home again for the winter. We really loved being there. We sat up against a rock with the lake pretty much to ourselves and ate our lunch. We just savored the beauty around us and decided to spend more time in Indian Peaks.
Streams, ponds, and wildflowers are treats the whole way
