Nokhu Crags

We have been researching different hikes, and Joe lucked upon the wisdom of the owner of our local mountaineering shop, Neversummer, and she led us to one of the most spectacular hikes of the summer. Our destination was the Nokhu Crags, a rough and beautiful mountain top on the back of the Never Summer mountain range. Under the Crags were a small series of lakes, known as the Michigan Lakes, and above those, a magical, azure lake, Snow Lake. We drove an hour and a half to get the American Lakes trailhead, which begins in The Colorado Sate Park. As the trail reaches the Crags, there is an alternate trail that takes you to Thunder Pass, and the beginning of RMNP. You can continue over the pass and down to the Great Ditch, and on to Lulu city, which eventually brings you out to the Colorado River trailhead in RMNP. As we now have travelled on most of the RMNP eastern hikes, we can see these connections, and the temptations that await. However..... As we drove to the trailhead, we passed a series of huge cattle ranches, and at one point, we stopped and gazed at the stunning expanse. of the West.

From the trailhead, we immediately ascend through a dense spruce forest, occasionally viewing beautiful meadows that were in the last of the summer wildflowers, but beginning to show fall leaf color change. We climb through and get to the tree line, finding our first amazing views of our destination, the Nokhu Crags. We are headed to the small bowl of snow in the left of the picture.

After a 4 and 1/2 mile climb, we come to a small set of lakes, known as the Michigan Lakes,

and straight above us, nestled into the cirque of the Crags, lies Lake Snow. At this point we have to climb about a quarter of a mile up a steep, rocky slope,

home to many sweet natured marmots,

eventually getting to this most pristine lake.

At the beginning of the Michigan lakes,

the trail splits, and to the left, continues up the mountain, taking us to Thunder Pass, at an altitude of 11,360 feet.

As you can see from the pictures, the view is spectacular, and if you look closely, you can see Grand Lake.