Potato Lake, Colorado

[Wandering Daisy]

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

[Wandering Daisy]

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).

[maverick]

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

[Tom_H]

How wonderful!