Envy Lake and southernmost St. Vrain Glacier, 09/08/2007
From our parking place at the west end of Camp Dick, near the Buchanan Pass Trailhead, we started hiking at 7:25. At the Buchanan Pass Trailhead, the sign says "Wilderness boundary 5.0 miles".
We hiked up the Buchanan Pass Trail to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Boundary, and continued for about a mile to a large meadow where the Buchanan Pass Trail turns left, as we continued straight, up the St. Vrain Glacier Trail (see trail map ).
After about 1.2 miles, just before the "Leave Trail" point (see point list below), we turned left, off the trail, and headed southwest to Envy Lake, reaching the lake at 11:00.
From Envy Lake we headed south, first through alpine meadow, and then through very rugged boulder field to the foot of the southernmost St. Vrain Glacier, where our odometer showed 8.13 miles. This time of year, the glacier was hard ice, dirty looking, and melting, with rivulets of water coming down its surface.
An interesting observation, is when we recorded the position of the foot of the glacier, where the ice gives way to rock (see GPS data below), it was much further uphill than the map showed. This might be due to either the inaccuracy of the GPS at that position, or to the possibility that the glacier has shrunk significantly since the map on Topozone was made.
Returning the way we had come, we stopped for lunch at Little Envy Lake, just northeast of Envy Lake, then roughly followed the outlet of Envy Lake to the St. Vrain Glacier Trail. At 14:48 we got to the sign that says "Camp Dick 4.0 miles", and finally returned to the parking place at 16:18, where the odometer showed a roundtrip distance of 16.4 miles. The total time for this hike was 8 hours, 53 minutes, with an altitude gain of 2775 feet.
Pictures
09/08/07 Southernmost St. Vrain Glacier from Little Envy Lake
| Place name | Elev [ft] | Accuracy [ft] | Lat/Lon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parking on west side of Camp Dick | 8733 | 10 | 40.12985/105.52393 |
| Indian Peaks Wilderness boundary | 9825 | 19 | 40.14034/105.59503 |
| Crossing on Middle St. Vrain Creek | 10316 | 27 | 40.15673/105.62143 |
| Foot of southernmost St. Vrain Glacier | 11508 | 42 | 40.14946/105.64196 |
| Number | Description | Lat/Lon |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leave Trail | 40.1582/105.6335 |
| 2 | Little Envy Lake | 40.1543/105.6380 |
| 3 | Foot of glacier | 40.1508/105.6394 |
| 4 | West end of Gibraltar Lake | 40.1558/105.6523 |