Kaufmann Lake

Some photos of the trip:

June 28-29, 2003

Pre-trip accomodations: Castle Mountain hostel

Photo Album:
[cpg_albumrand:25,6]

[cpg_imagethumb:25,2003-06-28-11KaufmannLake.jpg]Saturday, June 28: We (Brent, Terri, Russ, Celeste and I) met at the Marble Canyon trail head at 8:45 and set off hiking around 9:15. We had a beautiful, blue sky day. The Tokumm Creek valley was very green and lush. The avalanche slopes were particularly beautiful and green.^* We hiked quite a way up the valley passing the junction with the trail to Fay Hut and the recently removed Tokumm Creek campground. We finally stopped for lunch near a snow bridge spanning Tokumm Creek – this was the remnants of a winter avalanche. After lunch, all that remained was the final climb to Kaufmann Lake. This is one of the steeper trails I have climbed in the Rockies. The heat of the day certainly didn’t help. Once we reached the top, we saw the incredible vista of Kaufmann Lake framed by the back side of the peaks around Moraine Lake. Distance hiked: 15.1 km. Elevation gained: 578 m.

[cpg_imagethumb:25,2003-06-29-07TokummCreekValley.jpg]Sunday, June 29: We hiked out to the trail head on another blue sky day. It was an uneventful hike out. Distance hiked: 15.1 km. Elevation lost: 578 m.

Total distance hiked: 30.2 km. Total elevation gained and lost: 578 m.

^*Additional Notes: The entire Tokumm Creek valley, along with the Kaufmann Lake area and nearby Fay Hut were destroyed burned by forest fire around August 1, 2003. I count myself lucky to be one of the last people who saw the area in it’s green state before it burned.

Edited: 2006-06-25 – Added photo album links.