Thomas Lakes Hike

Today I got off to a late start.  Getting up at 10:30 didn’t help and was probably the reason but who knows.  I was torn between going for a ride over Cottonwood Pass or for a hike.  Since I hadn’t been hiking in some time I decided to go to Thomas Lakes, which are about half way up Mt. Sopris.  I had ridden in the area before but never hiked there.

I was taking a gamble as I didn’t start my hike until about 1:30 pm and there was weather on the radar.  I started hiking as the thunder rolled in.  I was the only person headed up the trail.  More than once I was told “Watch those clouds!”  Those clouds only produced about 5 minutes of sprinkling just about the time I reached the lakes.  The big news of the day was just as the rain started I saw something moving behind a couple of trees.  As it cleared the trees and stepped onto the trail, there in front of me was my first bear of the year.  It was most likely his/her first year away from it’s mother, as he/she was quite small.  The most noticeable thing about him/her was they had a blonde stripe going from the shoulders to tail.  Once he/she turned and saw me, they took off like lightening up the hill and out of sight.  It’s always a thrill to see some amazing creatures in the wild.

It made my day to see only my second bear in CO.  I also saw , a couple of birds, a few chipmunks, squirrels, and a Pika.  I attempted some fishing but I only saw some huge salamanders which at first I thought were fish in Thomas Lake.  Later when I got home I went fly fishing.  The score is Fish 1, Scatman 0.

Scatman

Get out there!