Lake City + Silver Creek Trail

Hi, friends! Excited because today I’m sharing the second part to our camping trip in Uncompahgre National Forest. If you missed it, you can read the first part here, which is all about our roadtrip to the campsite and our night camping there. But today’s blog post picks up the next morning as we headed into Lake City for a cozy small town breakfast and later found our way to the Silver Creek Trailhead for a short hike. So let’s get right into, shall we?!

After taking a leisurely morning and packing up all our camping gear, we began the hour long drive into Lake City.

This was our first time in Lake City and we absolutely loved it! I “joke” with Allen all the time that one day we will to move to a small mountain town and open up our own B&B just like on the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies! 😀 And honestly, Lake City would be the perfect place to do that! It’s a cozy little town tucked into the mountains with an adorable main street and fantastic access to the mountain trails (the ones we will use for our cross-country outings for guests 😉 ). Anyways, I just love how sleepy and peaceful it feels!

We drove through town once before stopping at this little coffee shop for a warm breakfast after a night of camping in the cold.

Ever since we got bagel sandwiches in Philly earlier this summer, I have been ALL about them!! This one was particularly delicious with the peppered bacon! Yummmm.

After breakfast, we took some time to walk around town and explore the local shops. I particularly loved the little Christmas Shop we stopped in where I picked up an ornament for our Christmas tree this year. I just love getting ornaments from all our travels. It’s a fun inexpensive way to re-live all our favorite moments from years past during the Christmas season.

And, of course, I couldn’t resist a little smooch with my favorite animal! Ever since my first trip to Alaska 3 years ago, I have been smitten with moose. They are THE BEST!

Also, how cute are these little guest cabins that you can rent to stay in right along main street?! Sign me up!

After walking around town for a bit, we headed up Cinnamon Pass (yes, it is the cutest name imaginable for a mountain pass) and toward the Silver Creek Trailhead.

P.S. – Does this place not look like it’s straight out of a Hallmark movie?! I mean…

Just look at the beautiful reds and browns of those mountains! So gorgeous!

In general, its best to not be on the mountain or hiking in the late afternoon of the day here in Colorado. That’s because afternoon storms are common and generally appear very quickly out of nowhere. Lightening is the major concern, but hail is also a very real possibility at higher altitudes. But we decided to just go a short ways up the trail to get our legs moving again and to see what we could see! 🙂

I loved this little yellow fairy flower garden (above). It was so delicate and beautiful.

And just LOOK at those yellow Aspen leaves below! Proof that Fall is coming, friends! It’s coming! 

When planning for this trip, we had penciled in the idea of climbing a 14er this morning. But because we like to sleep in when we are camping, we decided it was much more enjoyable to have a leisurely morning and go for a shorter hike in the afternoon. I can’t be sure, but the peak in the picture below is (I think) is Handies, which is the mountain we would’ve been climbing. I think I like it better from this altitude, personally. 😛

Can’t get enough of those gorgeous orangey-rust colors on the mountain side.

We even found some wild raspberries still growing!!

And these berries below, which you should never eat but are beautiful to look at. They remind me of holly berries at Christmas time and make me so happy!

At this point in the hike, we started to notice some ominous clouds moving in over the mountains. So we told ourselves we would hike another 5 minutes before turning around.

And as you can see from the photo below, this is why the trail is called Silver Creek! It was such a beautiful color of silvery blue mountain water!

The last of the fireweed (above). When we were in Alaska 3 years ago, Allen told me that fireweed blooms at the beginning of summer and slowly loses its flowers by the beginning of fall. And so, as the last petals fall, the last of summer comes to a close. Glad to see we still have a couple more weeks of warmer weather to go!

Once we hit a bend in the trail, we decided to turn around and head back to the trail head. But not before a selfie with the beautiful mountains int he background!

And not but 5 minutes later, the hail started to come down! Luckily for us, it wasn’t any bigger than pea size. But this is proof of why you shouldn’t be on the mountain in the late afternoon.

And I had to take a silly picture of us attempting to avoid the hail, because it was truly quite comical at the time. (Mainly because Allen kept saying five more minutes of hiking, Kristin. Five more minutes!)

Luckily we are pretty fast when it comes to down hiking and made it safely back down to the trail head in no time.

There were also quite a few people out on side-by-sides who looked like they were having a great time!

After warming up in the car, we headed back into Lake City for an afternoon snack.

We ended up stopping at the San Juan Soda Co. for a handmade ice cream sundae, but also picked up a few gifts in the shop as well!

Aren’t these mugs sooooo amazing?! I’m now kicking myself for not getting that dolphin one on the bottom shelf…

The Soda Shop has been family owned for generations. I overheard the store owner (whose son is dishing up our ice cream below) that her dad owned the shop before her. And the family actually lives in an attached house through the doorway on the left in the picture below. We love supporting small, family-owned businesses. So it was the cherry on top (literally!) to find out that we had stumbled upon one organically.

One last look at Lake City from a distance. It is such a lovely town to visit and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who loves exploring small Colorado mountain towns.

On our drive back to Boulder, we stopped in Breckenridge for dinner (one of our favorite downtown ski areas) at Flip Side Burger.

And then what stop in Breckenridge would be complete without a cookie from the Mountain Top Cookie Shop?! Yessss please!

Overall we had such a wonderful time exploring Lake City, finding a new Colorado campground we love, and stopping in the always lovely Breck for a bite to eat. We already can’t wait to see where our next camping adventure will take us!

What about you? Have you visited Lake City before?

You might also like…Exploring Ouray and Silverton and Our Family Ski Trip to Breckenridge.