This hike is near Silverthorne and shared much of the same trail as the Buffalo Mt Loop.
Last year when we did the loop, Jason noticed a bunch of Glacier Lilies that had bloomed but were gone.
So we thought we'd head up in the hopes of catching them.
It's been a hard year to guess on flower timing - LOTS of late snowfall.
We did see lots of Glacier Lilies, but many are still buried under snow.
The hike was still worth it - amazing views and a wonderful day in the mountains!
As we hiked up we came across a large avalanche area that we had to pick our way through.
It's staggering to see huge trees broken like toothpicks!
Much of the debris kept the snow from melting in this area - we could see snowbanks near the creek and
realized we were standing on snow that was 5-8 feet deep!!
(remember - it's 4th of July weekend!!)
Glacier Lilies soaking up the sun.
The pink stuff - no idea what that is, looked like some alien plant!
We ended up climbing about 3,000 vertical feet to get to Red Buffalo Pass.
The views once we got there took our breath away and were easily worth the effort!
A hike is always better when you get to see a marmot! And we saw several!
We left our packs behind and did some exploring near the top which apparently wasn't the best plan.
We came back down and our backpacks had been nibbled on in various spots!
Jason had seen an alpine weasel so we're not sure if it was that or the marmots.
But something made a nice snack of some of our pack bits!
Luckily all our straps were intact, so we were fine for the trip back down. :o)
There was quite a bit of snow in places near the top of the hike.
One bonus to that was getting to do a little "butt sledding" on the way down.
Didn't get to do much, but it helped speed up the descent! :)
It was an AMAZING hike with gorgeous views, spectacular weather and wonderful company.
A great day to be in the high country!
A panorama of what we saw to the west at Red Buffalo Pass (click to enlarge for better view)
A lovely payoff for all the hard work!
Thanks for stopping by and hope you had a wonderful 4th of July also!
If you enjoyed, feel free to leave a comment :o)
Thank you!
