For my final hiking trip of the season, I wanted to go somewhere farther and a bit more strenuous. I decided to hike from Gothic to Conundrum Hot Springs via Triangle Pass. I invited my friend to come with me, and we left Gothic early in the morning and headed towards Copper Lake. Before we get to Copper Lake, the trail splits into two and one directs us towards Triangle Pass.
View from Triangle Pass
Along the trail towards Triangle Pass, there were several areas still covered by snow which made the crossing very difficult and treacherous. I actually slid down a snowy patch (with a full pack) and may have hurt my knee in the process.
Almost at the top of Triangle Pass. If you look closely, you can see the trail along the mountain side and snow covering parts of the trail.
The snowy patch above the pond was where I slid down the slope. Thankfully, I stopped in a short distance and did not hit any rocks or went into the water.
View from top of Triangle Pass.
Once we went over Triangle Pass, the trail is pretty much all downhill there.
The trail is beautiful with colourful wildflowers on both sides.
Wildflowers!
More wildflowers!
Rosy Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexiifolia)
Parry's Primrose (Primula parryi)
Scarlet Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)
Another Rosy Paintbrush.
And one of my favourite plants - Elephant Heads (Pedicularis groenlandica)!
View as we got closer to Conundrum.
Looking back at Triangle Pass.
Map of campsites. This is a very popular hiking destination, so finding a campsite can be difficult especially during weekends.
My friend and I luckily found an empty campsite at site 14.
People hiking to the hot springs and looking for campsites. Because there were many people at the hot spring and clothing is optional, I did not take any pictures from there.
View from our campsite the following morning.
Map of campsites. This is a very popular hiking destination, so finding a campsite can be difficult especially during weekends.
My friend and I luckily found an empty campsite at site 14.
People hiking to the hot springs and looking for campsites. Because there were many people at the hot spring and clothing is optional, I did not take any pictures from there.
View from our campsite the following morning.
We hiked back to Gothic the second day, but before doing that, we stopped at Copper Lake for a quick swim and lunch.
Copper Lake.
An amazing ending to my field seasons here in Colorado. I will treasure this memory forever.
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