Savage Lakes

Having never explored the Holy Cross Wilderness, I set out to hike to a beautiful lake in late June with three friends. I studied the map for a great while before deciding on Savage Lakes as our destination. The hike to Savage Lakes is an out and back hike totaling 4 miles, which was easy to accomplish in an afternoon.

We loaded up our camelbacks and hit the road around 11:00 on Saturday morning. The drive to the trailhead turned out to be longer than I expected due to windy roads and low speed limits, but that just gave us more time to sing along to terrible songs from the high school CD collection I still have in my car.

The trailhead to Savage Lakes is well marked and easily navigable. We made it to the first lake in good time, and we decided to stop there for lunch and a rest. After lunch, we searched for the second lake, but couldn't find it. The trail was still covered in snow, and after losing it several times, we gave up and headed back.

There are seemingly endless options for hikes in the Holy Cross Wilderness, and I'm already looking forward to exploring more. Of course I intend to head back up the trail to Savage Lakes in the near future to find that hidden second lake. I've also heard rumor of a small third lake with a beautiful waterfall that I'd love to find once the snow melts off a little more.

Here's to waiting for snow to melt, so I can get further into the high country; my favorite place on earth!