Snowmass and Willow Lakes Loop

Perfect.

Great trip report. Snowmass Lake is a wonderful place — even better that you had it almost all to yourself…

Very nice trip report, thank you!

A friend is planning a trip for us in that area …. I'm expecting to sleep on the shores of Snowmass Lake on Aug 11

Thanks for comments, guys. Yeah, Snowmass Lake is a special place. Hope you enjoy your trip there, Jim.

Loved it, thanks for sharing. I've only done trips to southern CO and northern NM,since they're closer to home, but I'm looking forward to getting up that way someday.

Glad you enjoyed it, Leigh. Hope you make it up there. It really is a special place.

You need to stop making me jealous! Never mind. Keep them coming.

How were the mosquitoes up there? Do you ever have a problem with them in your SL2?

Excellent writeup. I'm adding it to my list of places to visit. I love hitting popular spots mid-week or off-season; it's a whole new experience when you can have an entire lake or valley to yourself!

Thanks,Ben and Daniel.

Ben, yeah, the mosquitoes started in on me the second afternoon in the Willow Lake area. But I was ready for them with long woven pants and shirt with some strategically sprayed permethrin, and one of Peter Vacco's headnets. In addition, I got the idea of using stick DEET from Jorgen Johansson's book and found it was a lot easier to use than the creams. So the mozzies didn't score on me even once.

For some reason, flies tend to gather in the SL2 harmlessly near the peaks. Only one mosquito found her way inside, and I just swept her out. Both nights were spent at elevation, once around 11K and the other at 12K, and it tends to get cool there, so the mosquitoes just disappeared after a while.

Daniel, I like to use the same strategies as you. It becomes a kind of a game to figure out when and where the crowds will be and plan to avoid them. It's really sweet when it works out like on this trip.