Ice Lake Basin

Overview

Ice Lake area is located in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado (part of Rockies). It was on my "to do" list for a long time, and finally I made a quick one day trip and hiked up 3 surrounding peaks: Fuller Peak 13,761 feet=4192 meters, Vermilion Peak, and Golden Horn.
The hike starts at South Mineral Creek Campground (easily accessible with low clearance cars), elevation at trailhead is 9,827 feet. There is an excellent Ice Lake Trail (great for trail running) starting from the campground, which gradually leads into the lower Ice Lake Basin, and then reaches Ice Lake. It is 3.5 miles to the Ice Lake, and 2,500 feet of elevation gain. The views along the hike are amazing.

Trail to the Ice Lake and along the lake

Lower Ice Lake Basin	Trail in the Lower Ice Lake basin
Waterfall in the Lower Ice Lake Basin	Campsite near Ice Lake
Ice Lake	Ulysses S. Grant Peak and Ice Lake

Fuller Peak 13,761 ft = 4194 m

Fuller Peak with an old miner's hut	Fuller lake with Fuller peak in the background
Fuller, Vermilion and Golden Horn as seen from Ice lake	Rest by Fuller Lake
Climber approaching the Vermilion-Fuller saddle	Vermilion-Fuller saddle
Duchess in the saddle	Trail to Fuller Peak
Fuller Peak from the saddle	Duchess hiking along the ridge
almost at the top	View west from Fuller Peak
View North from Fuller Peak	Looking into Yankee Boy Basin

Vermilion Peak 13,894 ft = 4235 m

Vermilion Peak as seen from the top of Fuller peak	Vermilion from Fuller-Vermilion saddle
Climber on Vermilion	Duchess did so great
Higher up on Vermilion	Near the summit
Summit of Vermilion	Wilson Massif as seen from the top of Vermilion
Summit log on Vermilion	Summit pose
Golden Horn from Vermilion	Descent from Vermilion

Golden Horn 13,780 ft = 4200 m

Golden Horn looks intimidating, but is not	Golden Horn and its reflection
Wildflower garden	It indeed looks like a horn
Fat marmot	Golden Horn from Vermilion-Golden Horn saddle
on the slopes of Golden Horn, Vermilion in the back	Duchess, wait for me
Higher up on Golden Horn	Final scramble
Climber on the summit	Chimney leading to the eastern=lower summit
Grenadiers as seen from Golden Horn	Pilot Knob as seen from the top
Climber on Golden Horn	Duchess on summit of Golden Horn
Climber on eastern=lower summit	Vermilion and Fuller Peak from top of Golden Horn
Climber descending Golden Horn	Ledges below Golden Horn
and me on the descent with Vermilion in the back	Clouds over Fuller Peak
Vermilion Peak	Fuller Peak

Pilot Knob 13,738 ft = 4187 m

External Links

A nice photo trip report

Images

View Ice Lake Basin Image Gallery - 87 Images