Just south of Nederland on the peak to peak highway is the East Portal Trailhead leading to James Peak Wilderness. It was late Fall and the snow had begun to accumulate, however we decided to do a quick 1 night trip up to Crater Lake. We arrived just around dusk, it got cold that night but the sky+moon+lake was unbelievably beautiful.
After a few stove malfunctions in the morning due to the cold weather, we decided to take a stab at heading towards James Peak. We got to around Heart Lake before we decided our lack of yak tracks could have some consequences. All along the hike we had a stream as our neighbor. It was so nice to see it turning into it's icy winter-y self.
We'll have to go back some time.
