Hanging Lake
Rocky Mountains - Colorado
Hanging Lake
Description: The trailhead to Hanging Lake is located directly on Interstate 70 just before Glenwood Springs (coming from the east). As the valley here is very narrow, there is no exit coming from the east (Denver). You have to drive one exit further, turn around and drive back again. Only if you are coming from the west (Glenwood Springs) you can take the exit directly. Especially in summer and fall, there were always traffic jams in the relatively small parking lot. For this reason, you will need a permit to hike to the lake from 2019. Everything you need to know about the permits can be found on the official webpage.
Hike Description: The hike first leads flat and paved for a few hundred feet along the Colorado River. After you have left the paved road, it immediately climbs relatively steeply. You cross a boulder field and have to step over more or less high stones for a few times. Then you enter the forest and hike the rest of the way up Dead Horse Creek. The trail is easy to walk, only the last few feet before the lake you have to climb up some steep steps. But since there are handrails, this is not a big problem.
Trail length: 3mi roundtrip
Altitude difference: 984ft
Time needed: 3-4 hours
Difficulty level: moderate - The trail is well maintained and easy to walk. The trail is short, but relatively steep and therefore strenuous. Just before the lake there are a few very steep stone steps.
Our rating: Apart from the weather, we liked the hike very much. It is indeed strenuous and runs mostly through forest, but you still have a lot of beautiful motifs on the way up. Since the path is also not very far, there is definitely no boredom. The lake and the waterfalls are then an absolute highlight anyway. We really liked it up there. This may also have been due to the fact that we were almost alone on the trail due to the bad weather. Absolute recommendation from us.
