Explore Echo Lake Park

Idaho Springs, Colorado

4.0/5

based on 1 reviews

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Details

Distance

1.2 miles

Elevation Gain

88 ft

Route Type

Loop

Description

Added by Jason Hatfield

A beautiful subalpine lake with easy year-round access.

Located at the base of Mt. Evans Road, Echo Lake sits next to Squaw Pass Road, providing a great jumping-off point for numerous adventures. The park serves as a trailhead for hiking or snowshoeing into the Mount Evans Wilderness, offers picnic areas, and includes a nearby campground with 17 sites. The area has dark night skies for photographing the Milky Way, and when the lake is frozen interesting cracks form in the ice. The lake is also a popular fishing spot, although actually catching a fish can prove difficult.

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Features

Chillin

Camping

Fishing

Photography

Snowshoeing

Hiking

Bathrooms

Dog Friendly

Easy Parking

Family Friendly

Forest

Lake

Picnic Area

Scenic

Explore Echo Lake Park Reviews

Frankie S

Explore Echo Lake Park

04/26/17

Great spot, if you find the main parking area full head up the scenic byway just past echo lake towards Juniper pass for some really, really sweet views of Mt. Evans and more!

4.0

Leave No Trace

Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!

Nearby

Hike to Idaho Springs Reservoir

This is a great hiking area an hour outside of Denver, Colorado. It's still easily accessible in the winter and most of the time it can be hiked without snowshoes. Starting at the Echo Lake parking lot, hike around the right side of the lake until you reach a fork in the trail. Follow the path on your right until it leads you down into the valley and across the creek. Shortly after the crossing...

Lower and Upper Chicago Lake

From the parking lot, stay to the right of Echo Lake and you will run into the Chicago Lakes Trailhead. Follow the switchbacks down and across Chicago Creek. After crossing the creek, follow the sign indicating that the trail follows the dirt road and hang a left; from here, you'll reach the Idaho Springs Reservoir is a little over 1.5 miles. Continue past the reservoir and past the cabins to r...

Hike the Resthouse/Lincoln Lake Trail

While the Mt. Evans Wilderness never has a shortage of visitors, thanks to its proximity to Denver, it is possible to find a more private hike if you know where to look. Lincoln Lake Trail, accessible from Echo Lake year-round, is not as glamorous as its sister trail, Chicago Lakes, but is a wonderfully private and scenic trail favored by backpackers, horseback riders, snowshoers, and skiers.De...

Photograph Ancient Bristlecone Pines on Mt. Goliath

On the way to the summit of Mt. Evans sits a small 160 acre preserve of some of the world's oldest living trees. The Mount Goliath Natural Area protects a rare site of Bristlecone Pines that make excellent photographic subjects.Immediately after parking you're surrounded by a miniature forest full of gnarly twisted shapes. While there are many interesting trees close to the small visitor center...

Hike to Hell's Hole

The name is uninviting, but Hell’s Hole is a scenic, shallow basin in the Mount Evans Wilderness near Idaho Springs. Starting elevation is about 9500 feet. Right after the trailhead, you pass through a few camping sites in the Chicago Creek Picnic Area. About five minutes into the hike is the permit station. Permits are free, but registration is required for Mount Evans Wilderness. You’ll hike ...

Mount Evans and Mount Spalding Loop

Mount Evans is a simple, yet drop dead gorgeous 14er. That being said, no 14er is easy by any means. However as far as 14er's go, this is a cake walk. Coming in at a rating of class 2, there tends to be some scrambling but nothing a well balanced person can't handle. To begin this adventure, we drove up to the Summit Lake parking lot at around 5am. There is a $5 fee for parking but that can be...

Explore Echo Lake Park

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Download the Outbound mobile app

Features

Explore Echo Lake Park Reviews

Leave No Trace

Nearby

Hike to Idaho Springs Reservoir

Lower and Upper Chicago Lake

Hike the Resthouse/Lincoln Lake Trail

Photograph Ancient Bristlecone Pines on Mt. Goliath

Hike to Hell's Hole

Mount Evans and Mount Spalding Loop

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