Blue Lakes

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Tips: There are two trailheads, East Dallas Trailhead (closest town is Ridgway) and Yankee Boy Basin Trailhead near Telluride. We started at East Dallas. There are three lakes – Lower, Middle and Upper Blue Lakes. If you continue past Upper Blue Lake, you can go over the pass and continue on to Mount Sneffels, a challenging 14er at 14,158 ft. It’s about 4.3 more miles (one-way) and a very steep climb. We did a day hike on this trip but have backpacked here as well and loved it! There are lots of areas to camp at Lower Blue Lake. The Lower Lake is by far the most beautiful alpine lake we’ve seen and it looks great from up above! Be sure to keep your eye on the weather because this area is known for afternoon rain.

Directions: From the town of Ridgway, head west and take CO-62 for 4.3 miles. Then turn left onto Co Rd 7 and drive 8.9 miles on a bumpy dirt road to the trailhead parking lot. This is a very popular hike so we arrived the day before and dispersed camped off of Co Rd 7. Then we got up early and had a short hike to the trailhead.