High Sierra Topix

I took my 10-year old granddaughter on her first overnight backpack. Potato Lake is only a 1.5 mile hike and is featured in a guide to family-friendly places to hike. Unfortunately most of the longer and better destinations at 11,000-12,000 feet elevation were still too snowy to do. This one is at the 9000-foot elevation range. Everything went well. We did get a bit bored and walked around this little lake about 5 times. Since my granddaughter already has done a lot of car camping and day-hiking, this was an easy next step. The night after we left evidently a bear tore apart someone's tent because they left food inside. We did not see any bear- just deer.

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Nearby aspen grove

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Beaver pond just below Potato Lake

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She has nearly outgrown her little Deauter kids pack

The location is just north of Durango, just east of the highway between Durango and Silverton (on the warmer and more melted out south side of the divide).

Looks like a fun trip with your granddaughter WD.
Would like to see that place during the Fall, with the aspen turning color.

How wonderful!