This week found us in Colorado. We were in the area around Aspen and spent several days hiking in the area and testing our new hiking poles. One of our favorite hikes was the 4 mile hike to Independence Lake. The hike starts about 25 minutes from Aspen, Colorado, just short of Independence Pass in in the Hunter Fryingpan Wilderness. The hike begins with a splendid view of a stream that the trail follows to the lake.
Start with Hiking Poles
The hike winds through meadows and boulder fields and at times is quite slick and muddy. The terrain made our Premier Outdoor Gear Hiking Poles indispensable. Our POG
Hiking Poles made each stream crossing, boulder scramble and muddy bog crossing a breeze. As we left the parking lot behind, the views became more and more breathtaking.
My POG Hiking Poles taking a break and enjoying the scenery, seriously, they worked hard on this hike. They made the walk much easier than it would have been otherwise. You can see in this picture clearly the line where the vegetation stops on this mountain face as we wended above the tree line.
Hiking Poles Help Crossing Snowfields
The hike begins at over 11,000 feet in elevation. As we gained elevation on the hike, the scattered snow fields became larger and more frequent. Again, our POG Hiking Poles did not let us down. They allowed us to easily traverse the snowfields with confidence, saving us the time of having to bypass them. The knee problems I was having earlier in the week had gotten alot better, making this hike much easier.
One of the numerous stream crossings we made. While Cooper the dog is equipped with four legs to make difficult terrain easy, we used our POG Hiking Poles at stream crossings. Here we do a quick map check before crossing.
As we reached over 12,000 feet in elevation, the field the lake was in came into view. I have broken the panorama of the lake into thirds below:
Needless to say, the hike was spectacular and well worth it. As we enjoyed lunch, rain blew in that quickly turned to sleet! It had gone from 72 degrees at the start to 40 degrees as the weather changed. Thankfully we were prepared. On the hike down we enjoyed wildflowers and the meadow.
We reached the trailhead, tired, wet and a bit cold, but were all satisfied that we had spent a great day outdoors in nature and would have a great deal of memories to share of our adventure. The last thing to go in the car were my hiking poles, which stowed nicely in their compact storage bag.
