Hiking at Diamond Lake Trailhead, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Eldora Colorado

Buy this as an art print here

This weekend I really wanted to get out into the mountains with Josh, Magnolia and the dogs to see the fall colors, and I decided that we should hike the Diamond Lake trailhead outside of Eldora, Colorado.  This was a trail that Josh had mentioned he'd like to hike after I had hiked it solo back in 2010, you can see the report here.  At that time I hiked all the way to Diamond Lake and beyond.    Yesterday however, we only made it to the large falls with our whole family of hikers, baby and dogs, also both Josh and I have been feeling under the weather and that was plenty far enough for us on this day.  Even with only going about 2-3 miles round trip, the hike still took over 3 hours, we did stop often so that I could take pictures, we hiked slowly because we had Rock with us, our 14 year old dog, and Magnolia was pretty squirmy, so it we often had to attend to her needs.  We managed to loose another pacifier on the trail, but otherwise had a great afternoon.  The trailhead parking lot was completely packed and the trail was very busy.  


Getting there:  It took just under an hour and a half to reach the trailhead from my home near Golden, Colorado.  Drive toward Nederland and just outside of Nederland take a left turn at Hwy 130/Eldora Road west  toward the Eldora ski resort (also toward High School); continue on this road for 3 miles to the town of Eldora.  Do not take the fork in the road which takes you to the ski resort.   Drive through the town of Eldora, (watch your speed) to the end of town, where the road turns to dirt.  This is Fourth of July Road; continue on this road for 5 miles when it dead ends at the parking lot for the trailhead. 
The road is bumpy, but does not require a 4wd vehicle and the parking lot was completely packed at noon on a Sunday; overflow parking on the side of the road was also packed, but we managed to find 1 spot as a person was leaving; it took me about 25 minutes from the town of Eldora to the trailhead due to the slow, bumpy road.  Click here to see google map of area.   
Specs:  There is a pit toilet at the parking lot, which is also parking for Buckingham Campground, a primitive campground with just a few sites.  The trail to Diamond Lake is stated as 2 miles per the sign, however I estimate it's closer to 2.5 miles after hiking it and reading some other information regarding the trail and the sign states the large falls are 1 mile from the trailhead, but again, I think it might be a little farther than that.  

The Hike:   As usual, Magnolia fell asleep about 10 minutes before we made it to the trailhead parking lot, so we had to wake her up for the hike and it took us a while (of course) to get all of our stuff, 2 dogs, and Magnolia around for the hike.  After about 30 minutes in the parking lot getting situated, we finally started hiking.  The trail was very busy with people and dogs as you'd might expect when the fall colors are at their peak.  The views from the trail are amazing, of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Arapaho National Forest.

 Beautiful aspens in all shades of fall colors; yellow, orange and even some reds!  

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Even though we had our Kelty backpack in the SUV at the last minute I decided to carry Magnolia in the ergo carrier.  Its so much easier and lighter and more comfortable for me, the downfall however is that there is no place to carry water and other items, which is why, when I hike alone, that I need the larger carrier.  But for days when Josh can carry a pack of food/water/etc, the ergo works just fine.  Well, usually it does.  On this day Magnolia was particularly squirmy and restless and I am not sure it was the right choice.  Josh ended up having to carry Magnolia so that I could take photos because she was so squirmy I was getting camera shake.  He prefers to carry her on his front, so it was much more slow going on the trail when we switched.    

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I am so in love with the aspen trees and their beautiful glowing color!  Shortly into the hike, you walk right through this aspen grove and it was so pretty that I stopped and got some great shots with the blue sky! 

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 The beginning of the trail has lots of wooden walkways, in the spring the water is very high from mountain runoff and the trail can get very wet.  

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 After about 1 mile there is a trail split and you can choose to continue up toward the pass, shown in photo above or head toward Diamond Lake and the falls, which is what we did.  I haven't hiked that trail, yet, but am looking forward to doing it next summer.  

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 Josh and Magnolia; and the ergo carrier.

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 All of the plants were changing color for fall, these leaves are normally bright green.  

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After about an hour of hiking we reached the trail split, and we took the trail toward Diamond Lake, but didn't quite make it to the lake this trip.  

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This really cool tree is along the trail close to the large waterfalls, I love interesting things in nature.  It looks like it would be a great place for a seat.  

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After an hour or more of hiking, we reached the largest falls on the trail.  While they weren't as loud and large as they were in the middle of the summer of 2010 when I was here last, but they were still very beautiful and a great place to stop and eat lunch.  I was able to get some amazing shots of the waterfall while Josh, Magnolia and the dogs ate lunch.  This print is available for sale here, commemorate  your Fourth of July Trailhead hike with an amazing print for your favorite frame. 

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 I climbed up to the top of the falls for this shot, there are more waterfalls above that can't be seen from below.  I stool precariously on the side of the falls, on a slick rock, to get this amazing shot.  You can purchase this photo and some others here.  This is a great way to commemorate your Diamond Lake hike.  

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 This print is also for sale here. 

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 I love the difference in shots, this one was taken as an action shot, you can see the individual droplets of water, but the above photos were taken with a longer exposure which created a feathery and peaceful effect.  

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Can you hear the water?

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As one of the larger and more popular waterfall trails in Colorado, this is definitely worth the hike, check out Diamond Lake soon, or you'll have to wait until next summer! Summer is beautiful here too, with lots of wildflowers and faster flowing falls.   Ok, enough of my waterfalls pics, but I just really love the falls!

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 After lunch, we hiked back toward the parking lot, instead of going to the lake.  I would have liked to continue hiking, but Josh wasn't feeling great, and The Lions played at 6:30, so he really wanted to be home.  Ahh football season, you ruin my hiking plans!

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 Josh, Magnolia and the doggies!

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 The field behind the big waterfall.  It looks like a great place to spot wildlife.  

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 Since Magnolia was due on Halloween last year, I wanted to make her a pumpkin hat.  Here it is!  Cute right?  She'll only keep it on with it tied securely (as with every hat) but its warm, cozy and kept her from getting too much sun!  I have this as a custom order in my etsy shop. 

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 More signs of fall, everywhere.  

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Goodbye flowers, see you next year.  

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This amazing image is available as an art print here 
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All in all, we arrived at the trailhead around 12 noon and left around 3:45pm.  It took an hour and a half to get home, but we made it in time for the unfortunate Lions game and loss.  I am looking forward to coming back to Diamond Lake next summer to enjoy the flowers.  

Did you enjoy this post, then please leave a comment or any questions.  Have you hiked here, or on any of the other trails in the area, I'd love to hear about those.  

You can join my mailing list here for emails when I add a new hike (2-3 times per month at most), and you can find my photography for sale here to commemorate your hike.  

Thanks for reading!