Continued from the previous page . . .
WATERFALLS FROM ISLAND LAKE
There are two good-sized waterfalls on the north side of the Lower
Ice Lake Basin that originate in another high basin, the one that holds
Island Lake below Grant-Swamp Pass.
You can see that basin to the left
of the red #3 on the map below:
Island Lake is at about the same elevation as Ice Lake but its basin is
much smaller than the huge upper Ice Lake Basin (which is actually
several basins with multiple lakes). Significantly less water flows down
from Island Lake and usually the creeks and waterfalls I'm about to show
you are much smaller than they were today with all the early-summer
snowmelt.
All the streams from these basins, including the basin that holds Clear
Lake, flow into Mineral Creek and the Animas River.
FALLS #1 FROM ISLAND LAKE
On the last page I
stopped at a creek at the far western end of the Lower Ice Lake Basin,
where the Ice Lake Trail starts a serious climb next to several
waterfalls that flow down from the Upper Ice Lake Basin.
That creek contains
water from a separate falls to my right (north) that carries water from
Island Lake:
I found a nice rock to sit on for a few minutes while Cody and I ate a
snack, then took lots of pictures of the creek flowing over rocks and
under the snow:
Another hiker and his dog approached; he decided against
crossing the creek, too, and walked farther downstream to take a break.
The creek was actually several small streams today, with water spilling out of
all of them onto the tundra, making for a very soggy area at this
end of the basin:
I wanted a closer look farther up these falls so I climbed
cross-country through the rocks and soft dirt until I could see it better:
Very cool.
The higher I got, the better the views I could see over to the upper
basin approach (arrows in next picture) and down to the Ice Lake Trail:
Buried trail to the upper basin
The Ice Lake Trail is about 150 feet below these
rocks.
BACK THROUGH THE LOWER ICE LAKE BASIN, GOING EAST PAST
FALLS #2 FROM ISLAND LAKE
I stayed high for about a quarter of a mile as I wandered back to the
other smaller falls that comes down from Island Lake:
Upstream
I also showed a couple pictures of this falls and two of its little
streams on the previous page.
Above and below: looking down two of the streams from
that waterfall
After I jumped across that little stream I walked back down to the Ice
Lake Trail and remained on it
until I came to the intersection with the trail the Hardrock course
uses to reach Grant-Swamp Pass:
Heading east through the lower basin
The Ice Lake Trail continues forward; I turned left
on the trail to Grant-Swamp Pass (in the gully).
I met three other hikers on my way back through the lower basin,
including the retired couple I mentioned at the beginning of this entry. I
thought I'd see more people out here today.
Continued on the
next page: a wintry
wonderland on the way to Grant-Swamp Pass
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
and Cody the Ultra Lab
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© 2011 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil