Aug 10
9
Highland Mary Lakes Hike
Distance: 6-8 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1720′
Starting Elevation: 10,450′
Rating: Moderate
Looking North from Highland Mary Lakes
Highland Mary Lakes named after Highland Mary Mine located near Silverton, Colorado is one of the 100 Classic Hikes in Colorado by the author Scott S. Warren.
I was a bit confused by the discrepancies in distances and altitude between this book and Pixler’s Southwest Colorado hikes but nonetheless, the hike is most worthy of your time. For me, this hike would be classified as a moderate hike with some decent climbing but nothing too difficult.
The trail starts climbing almost immediately and gains some decent elevation right off the bat. You will be hiking along Cunningham Gulch for a good bit of the way and the creek tumbling along the gorge offers a pleasant background noise for your hike.
There were plentiful wildflowers along the way for those interested in flower peeping but know that many are starting to decline. There are 7 lakes up in the basin once you get above treeline and for those avid fishermen, fishing is said to be excellent so bring your pole! You arrive at one of the smallest lakes first and as you continue on the trail a medium sized lake that has some good spots for taking a snack or lunch break.
The trail continues on around this lake off to the left or east side and our intention was to climb Whitehead Peak which according to my map has a trail the cuts to the right at about the end of this mid sized lake…never did see it. Oh well, this hike is worth revisiting.
We stayed on the trail in a general southward direction and started to climb up a bit more to an area where we could see a third larger lake below us and a grand vista in front of us which was the Grenadiers and Vestal and Arrow Peaks.
The view here is breathtaking and makes it worth climbing up from the second lake. From here you can turn around and head back to the Highland Mary trailhead or continue on to Verde Lakes and perhaps even hook up with the Continental Divide Trail. Whatever you choose to do, you should be able to find your way pretty easily here.
This is a popular trail in the summer months for good reason so be aware that you will see other hikers along the way. The trail is also very rocky and was extremely muddy in many spots so wear good boots! For the amount of effort this hike ranks very high in my book and it’s a great hike for dogs too.
