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Backpacker Magazine – May 2012
America's Best Campsites
Park your tent in one of these 10 spots, and you'll be happy in the morning. Guaranteed.
Photo by BP0512CAMP_Lanza_Sahale_445x260.jpg
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Tags:
- Feature Stories |
- Camping |
- North Cascades |
- Washington |
- Great Sand Dunes |
- Colorado |
- Maine |
- Grand Canyon |
- Arizona |
- Oregon |
- Arkansas |
- Wyoming |
- Glacier Bay |
- Alaska |
- Glen Canyon |
- Utah |
Blue Lakes
Mt. Sneffels Wilderness, CO
Find an alpine paradise of meadows shotgunned with brilliant wildflowers above an iridescent blue lake, and odds are a lot of other people have already set up camp there. But this spot lies tucked away in one of Colorado’s most secluded mountain ranges, five miles west of Ouray. From this perch above the lowest of the three Blue Lakes, at over 11,000 feet, you gaze out on a ring of 13,000-footers and the neighborhood’s big boy, 14,150-foot Mt. Sneffels. (In case of wind or lightning, there are protected campsites in the trees beside the lake.) From Blue Lake trailhead at the end of FR 851 (Dallas Creek Road), hike 3.3 miles and 1,600 feet to the lowest lake, which has good trout fishing, then climb the slope just above the lake to find this site. Spend two nights, and on your middle day visit the higher lakes and 12,980-foot Blue Lakes Pass for views of endless rows of spires and fields of wildflowers (best mid-July to mid-August). To climb Sneffels, descend the east side of the pass for .5 mile to a cairn marking the start of the South
Slope route (class 2). It ascends a wide, rocky couloir to a 13,500-foot saddle between Sneffels and 13,694-foot Kismet Peak, and then continues west up another steep couloir to a final summit scramble.
Permit None
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Contact (970) 240-5400, fs.usda.gov/gmug
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READERS COMMENTS
Just there this week - it is County Rd 7 and is easily accesible to 2wd cars and is reasonably well signposted. Yankee Boy Basin has nothing to do with it(unless and until you hike to Blue Lakes Pass that is). The trail to the pass is in poor condition in places and i was glad i did not have a full pack. Incredible place!! And if you do Sneffels consider the SW ridge route - more fun that the standard.
Heads up for all the eastcoasters thinking they can just drive to the trailhead. You will need a 4w drive vehicle to access the trail.
I cant believe theres not a top ten place for camping in california?????????????????
Not true about the Dallas Creek trailhead. I hiked up to the Blue Lakes from there in 2010. The road name and number may be incorrect, but the lakes are certainly accessible from the north. Just take Rt. 62 five miles west of Ridgway and turn left. Google Maps has it labeled as County Road 7.
That said, the Dallas Creek trail is wooded and, not counting some waterfalls, not as scenic as the Yankee Boy Basin approach (which starts about 2000' higher).
This is spectacular country. I was really happy to see it on this list.
Regarding Mt Sneffels. The phone number does not work and forest rd 851 (Dallas Creek Rd) does not exist. The trail is at the end of forest rd 853.1B (Yankee Boy Rd).
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