Ouray, CO – We day hiked the Blue Lakes Trail in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area of the Uncompahgre National Forest. We opted for the 6.3 mile (round trip) trip to Lower Blue Lake which includes a climb of 1,590 feet from the trailhead starting elevation of 9,350 feet. For those looking for a longer challenge, you can extend the trip to 8.2 miles (RT) with a total of 2,400 feet gain to Upper Blue Lake or to 11 miles (RT) and a total of 3,650 feet gain to Blue Lakes Pass. We selected our hike using Diane Greer’s “Best Hiking in Southwest Colorado around Ouray, Telluride, Silverton and Lake City”.
The Blue Lakes Trailhead
We started from the large parking area and easily located the trailhead. Blue Lakes Trail immediately begins climbing at a steady pace. Basically, there are steep switchbacks, a slightly less steep section, followed by more steep switchbacks. The trail begins along the East Fork of Dallas Creek and passes through forest of Aspen, Engelmann Spruce and Pine. There are intermittent views of mountains through tree gaps as you climb. Parts of the trail are narrow and along an edge which descends steeply.
Blue Lakes Trail travels through forest
A glimpse of the mountains through the trees
The trail enters Mt Sneffels Wilderness Area at about 1.5 miles
Wolcott Mountain and forest
The trail is narrow and steep in sections
A section of moderate grade on the Blue Lakes Trail
After the first steep and less steep area, the trail crosses a creek and then breaks out into an open area for unobstructed views of the valley headwall. You’ll cross an avalanche chute on the east side of Wolcott Mountain. The trail again enters the woods after a switchback and begins the second steep section before opening up again for the cirque with the beautiful turquoise colored water of Lower Blue Lake. The lake is surrounded by Dallas Peak (13,809 feet) to the southwest and Mount Sneffels (14,156 feet) to the east. To continue on to Upper Blue Lake and the Pass requires another creek crossing.
A view from the trail in the avalanche chute area
Another trail view in the avalanche chute area, note toppled trees
Dallas Creek Valley
Lower Blue Lakes is located in a cirque
Blue Lakes Trail was a great hike with excellent scenery. The only drawback was how busy the trail was when we hiked it on a Tuesday in late June. There were a small number of cars when we arrived at the trailhead around 8:15am, but the number of hikers kept increasing throughout the morning until it was almost a steady stream on our return hike.
Lower Blue Lake
To reach the Blue Lakes Trailhead: From the center of Ouray take Highway 550 north for just over 10 miles to Highway 62 in Ridgway. Turn left on Hwy 62 and travel 4.8 miles to Dallas Creek Road aka CR 7. Turn left onto gravel Dallas Creek Road, marked with a brown National Forest sign, and follow signs traveling 9 miles to the trailhead parking area. CR 7 becomes Forest Service Road 851.1 at the Uncompahgre National Forest Boundary. There is a vault toilet at the trailhead. While there is a lot of parking, it was overflowing by the time we completed our hike around 1pm. This is a scenic drive to the trailhead with views of Mount Sneffels (14,150 feet) and its neighboring peaks and ridges (all over 13,000 feet). While only about 24 miles from Ouray, the drive on Dallas Creek Road is rough so plan on at least 45 minutes to reach the trailhead. While rough, Dallas Creek Road is passable by passenger cars.
During this trip to Ouray we also hiked the Ouray Perimeter Loop, Wetterhorn Basin Trail in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, a section of the Colorado Trail/Continental Divide Trail from Stony Pass, and the Highland Mary Lakes Loop in the Weminuche Wilderness. We drove our Jeep on Last Dollar Road, Ophir Pass Road, Porphyry Gulch, Alta Lakes Road, Corkscrew Gulch/Hurricane Pass/California Gulch, Placer & Picayune Gulches. We stayed at the Ouray KOA but there are some other RV camping options in the region. During earlier trips we have driven Engineer, Cinnamon, and Imogene Passes.
