Green Lake Colorado Hike Guide
Green Lake in Colorado is a beautiful high alpine located in the mountain town of Crested Butte, Colorado. This hike is about 9 miles long but a lot of the hiking works through and around residential areas adding to its distance. This is a great option for later spring, summer, fall and even early winter. Although you can hike this one in the winter, it’s important to be aware of avalanche prone slopes near the lake itself that could be very dangerous. This hike is great for intermediate hikers and is dog friendly as well.
Green Lake Colorado Facts
Green Lake Rating: ★★ ★ (⅗ Stars)
Distance: 8.8 Miles RT
Elevation Start: 8,881ft
Green Lake Elevation: 10,641ft
Total Elevation Gain:1,890ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 4-6 Hours RT
Difficulty: Moderate What does this mean?
Class: Class 1 – What does this mean?
Season: June- November (expect snow outside of this period)
Directions to Green Lake Colorado
Trailhead: Crested Butte Nordic Center
Getting Here: You might read elsewhere that there are other places to park, but as of 2021 there are not. This hike starts at the Crested Butte Nordic Center right in Crested Butte. From Colorado Highway 135, take Whiterock Ave to 2nd St and find a small parking lot here. This is where the hike starts.
Parking: This parking lot is basically shared parking with the skate park, skating rink and Nordic Center. However, there is ample street parking in the area so it should be fairly easy to find parking for this one. There are usually porta-potties at the TH but no other restrooms.
Fee: There is no fee for this hike as of 2021.
Summary
Dogs: Green Lake is a dog friendly
Camping: Camping for this hike is really not an option since almost all of the hike passes through residential areas and private land for the first 3 miles or so. You could certainly bring a backpack and camp at or near the lake if you wanted, just be sure to follow-up dispersed camping rules if doing this.
Make it a Loop: This is an out and back hike but you could easily extend your hike with loads of other trails in the area. Read more about those here.
Trail X Factors: Neighborhood Hiking
As I have mentioned several times, a lot of this hike works through private land and due to this, there are a few sections of this hike where you walk along a road to get to the next part of the trail. This is very well marked, just keep an eye out for cars while working through this section. It’s also kind of a bummer because you never truly feel like you are actually in nature until the last mile or so of this hike.
Hike Tip(s): Green Lake in Colorado is a relatively good hike to tackle almost throughout the year, but if you plan on hiking this one in the winter, be sure to have snowshoes and temper your expectations of actually seeing the lake. In the winter months, this route is relatively safe from avalanches, so you certainly could tackle it. However, as you get to the lake itself, it is VERY avalanche prone so it’s best to not linger here long or avoid it altogether on a high avalanche probability day.
Best Views: Without a doubt, the best views on this hike are at Green Lake itself. The rest of the hike is mediocre at best in my opinion. However, there are a few spots towards the start of this hike where you can see the Crested Butte Ski Area and surrounding Elk Mountains which are pretty cool as well.
Green Lake Colorado Hike Route
Gear Needed
- Men’s Trail Runners
- Women’s Trail Runners
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Booths (Women’s)
- Backpack
- Food & Water
- Optional: Garmin inReach
- Optional: Hiking Poles
- Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
- Optional: Camera and Lens
- Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
- *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.
Our Trip to Green Lake: October 2021
Ah “Shoulder Season,” the few weeks a year in Colorado that most people complain about. There is enough snow to make most hikes over 12 or 13k very annoying and not super fun but not enough snow in most places to start skiing or snowboarding. It’s a very fickle time of year. In fact, in many places, like Crested Butte, the towns almost entirely shut down for a month before ski season starts. Naturally, Jackie and I decided it was a perfect time to visit! In all seriousness, we loved our time in CB even though many restaurants and bars were closed. There were hardly any tourists and we had an extremely popular hike, Green Lake, almost entirely to ourselves.
It had snowed the night before and a fresh powdery few inches of snow covered the ground. Juno was in heaven while Jackie and I dreaded what her fur would look like after we finished the hike. The trail started at the Nordic Center, worked along a road and started climbing the hills below the high alpine lake. The hiking was uneventful and eventually entered another residential area where we again walked along a road.
Finally, we returned back to the trail and entered into the National Forest. At this point of the hike, the snow started getting deeper but the sun was out and it was an absolutely beautiful fall day in Colorado. We finally reached the lake, which we had entirely to ourselves and we soaked in its beauty. It was quite the amazing scene with the lake still visible but snow covering the mountains behind it.
This is a great hike, but I would just temper expectations due to the amount of neighborhood hiking the trail passes through. Apparently, there might be another way to do this hike via Kebler Pass and the Carbon Trail so if you have hiked Green Lake that way, let me know.
