Ice Lake & Island Lake Colorado Hike Guide
Ice Lake & Island Lake are a pair of high alpine lakes located just outside of Silverton, Colorado. Ice Lake is one of the gems of Colorado with its bright blue, almost Caribbean looking, water. This hike is commonly hiked from June – October since snow will make this a much more challenging (and potentially less beautiful) hike. The hike to both Ice Lake & Island Lake is recommended for a moderate hiker. The trail is mostly packed dirt, but there are several steep sections on this hike.
Ice Lake & Island Lake Quick Facts
Virtual Trail Guide: Ice Lake & Island Lake
Ice Lake & Island Lake Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Distance: 9.76 Miles RT (7.2 Miles RT to Ice Lake Only, 7 Miles RT to Island Lake Only)
Elevation Start: 9,900 ft
Highest Point: 12,500 ft (Fuller Lake)
Total Elevation Gain: 3,100 ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 6-8 Hours RT
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult What does this mean?
Class: Class 2
Season: July – October (Expect snow/frozen lakes outside of this period)
Directions to Ice Lake & Island Lake
Trailhead: Ice Lakes Trailhead
Getting Here: From Silverton: Take US 550 north for 2 miles until you reach Forest Road 585 on the left. Take this dirt road for 4.3 miles until you reach the trailhead. This dirt road is in great shape and is doable in most cars.
From Ouray: Take US 550 south for 20.9 miles until you reach Forest Road 585 on your right. Take this dirt road for 4.3 miles until you reach the trailhead. This dirt road is in great shape and is doable in most cars. You can enter Ice Lakes Trailhead into your favorite navigational device.
Fees: None
Parking: Ice Lake & Island Lake has a parking lot that can fit about 30-40 cars. This lot will 100% fill up on most weekends, but additional parking can be found along the road or near the campground located by the trailhead. There are non plumbing bathrooms at the trailhead.
Summary
Camping: Dispersed camping and a few campgrounds are both available on the road leading to the Ice Lake & Island Lake trailhead. This area can get busy, but I don’t think you will have a hard time finding a camping spot unless it’s a busy weekend. If you want to hike up to either lake and camp, that is an option. However, be sure to follow local regulations in terms of distance away from the water and camp fires (this information can be located at the trailhead).
Dogs: The hike to Ice Lake & Island Lake is dog friendly. Due to the busy nature of this trail, I would recommend keeping your dog on a leash. It’s great that your dog is friendly, but you don’t know what other dogs on the trail are like. This area has a very heavy mineral presence, so I would also avoid letting your dog drink any of the water sources on this hike. Also, please for the love of god, pick up after your dog. You know what would ruin this beautiful blue lake? A big pile of dog crap next to it.
Make it a Loop: The trail to Ice Lake & Island Lake is a lollipop loop. You can hike to either lake first or extend your hike by traveling up to the trail or Fuller Lake. This adds about 1.5 miles to the hike, but is worth it in my opinion.
Trail X Factors: Route & Crowds – If you plan on hiking to Ice Lake & Island Lake, do some research beforehand (it’s good that you are here!) There is a lot of steep hiking on this trail, so be sure to know where you are going to avoid getting lost and adding more mileage. If you just want to hike to Ice Lake, stick to the left at all trail junctions. If you want to hike to Island Lake, there will be a trail junction about 2.3 miles into the hike. You can either head right here or hike up to Ice Lake and then take right there.
Since both Ice Lake & Island Lake are so beautiful, there are going to be a lot of people during your day on the mountain. If you want to avoid some crowds, get to the trailhead very early and head to Ice Lake first. If you are looking to have your own piece of nature, head to the west side of Ice Lake where there are generally less crowds. Want to be around even less people? Hike up to the upper Ice Lake or Fuller Lake right above the bright blue Ice Lake. Both will offer great views and much more seclusion than the lower one.
Hike Tip(s): If you want a more secluded hiking experience, head to Ice Lake & Island very early in the morning. We arrived around 7-8AM on a Sunday and still had to share the trail with a ton of other hikers. If you were looking to just hike to one lake, my recommendation would be to head to Ice Lake first. In addition, I would strongly recommend hiking up to the higher Ice Lake or Fuller Lake (the two lakes just past the bright blue one). While the color of these lakes are not as impressive as the lower lake, they offer a lot more seclusion and beautiful views of the entire area.
Best Views: Let’s separate the views into two different categories for Ice Lake & Island Lake. In my opinion, the best shot (photography-wise) of Island Lake is from the south east side. If you want to hike a bit higher up from the lake, you get a nice aerial view as well. In terms of the color, the west side of Island Lake has great views and offers a slightly greenish tint to the water. If you want the bright green color that many pictures depict, the lighting needs to be good with sunlight directly overhead the lake.
For Ice Lake, I would hike up to the higher lakes where you can get a tremendous aerial view of the bright blue lake in addition to the smaller greenish one located just above it. In addition to the great views, you get a lot of seclusion in both of these areas.
Ice Lake & Island Lake Hike Route
Includes Hike up to Fuller Lake which is just past Ice Lake.
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: Headlamp
- 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 Ice Lake & Island Lake: September 2018
When we arrived to the trailhead around 7AM, I was not surprised to see a lot full of other cars. The hike up to Ice Lake & Island Lake is one of the most popular in southern Colorado after all. It was early fall and the foliage in the area was at its prime. Yellow aspens lined the parking lot and a brisk morning filled the air of Silverton, Colorado. I was with Jackie and Juno and all three of us were excited for the day ahead of us.
The trail started through a small field but quickly turned into the forest and began a steady ascent uphill. We hiked for a bit and passed a small waterfall, the first signs of water on a day that would be full of it. Once we got past the waterfall, the trail started to increase its grade and became really steep around 1.75 miles in. Around this time, we caught up to a few other groups of hikers and shortly after reached the trail that would lead us up to Island Lake. We had been hiking for a little over 2 miles but still had about a mile to go to reach Island Lake, our first stop of the day.
Jackie had been having some calf problems and the relentless steep terrain was not the best medicine for it. We slowed our pace a bit and eventually reached Island Lake after another .7 miles of steep trail. When we arrived to the lake, we had it completely to ourselves which was nice. The water was not as green as I had seen it in pictures, but the view was unbelievable. The mountain behind the lake framed it perfectly and the moon was up in the sky. It was like this view wanted to be on a postcard. We enjoyed the lake for a bit, drinking some water, eating a couple of snacks and attempting, like always, to get Juno to look at the camera for a picture.
After a bit, some other hikers arrived to the lake and we decided to move on. I was a bit disappointed with Island Lake, it was beautiful but the color was not what I had expected. I am a difficult person to please, I know. Next up was Ice Lake and I was a little anxious to see if this lake was actually going to live up to the hype. We rounded a corner and the highlight blue lake came into view, I immediately exclaimed, “Holy Shit!” To this day, I still can’t get over the color of Ice Lake. It was impossible to take your eyes off. I had seen water this color before, but it was in the Mediterranean Sea where white sand coated the ocean floor, never in Colorado.
Ice Lake was a cluster fuck, so we decided to hike up to the upper lakes first in hopes to enjoy great views with less crowds. We hiked by the lower Ice Lake and reached the 2nd, much smaller lake, soon after. There was no one here but the hill behind it gave awesome views of this green lake and the bright blue lower Ice Lake. This was one of my favorite spots on the entire hike to Ice Lake & Island Lake. The beauty and serenity of nature without anyone else beside Jackie and Juno around. After some more pictures and about 10 minutes of hiking, we reached the highest lake of the day, Fuller Lake. There was an abandoned & broken down skier/miners shack here. It clearly was no match the rough weather that came at 12,000+ feet.
All three of us enjoyed Fuller Lake for a bit and eventually headed back down to Ice Lake. When we got back down, many of the people from earlier had left which was nice. There were still crowds on the east side of the lake, but we stuck to the west and enjoyed a private slice of this bright blue alpine lake. We stuck around Ice Lake for a long time, it was honestly hard to leave. After many pictures, videos and “holy crap I can’t believe this is a real place” we decided it was time to head back down. We had a long hike back and an even longer drive back to Evergreen.
On the hike down, we took the standard Ice Lake & Island Lake trail down which was chock full of other people. Have I mentioned how much I hate hiking around crowds? (Yes) In an effort to get some space on the trail, I quickened our pace and didn’t realize that Juno was sniffing something behind me. I went to pull her along and slammed her into a rock. She was okay, but I felt like a complete asshat. I let my frustration of idiot hikers get the best of me and poor Juno got the brunt of it. I just fundamentally don’t understand how other people think its cool to hike in one big pack instead of giving space on the trail, when someone else is clearly quicker than you.
The rest of the hike down Ice Lake & Island Lake was fairly quick and pretty uneventful. We reached the car after 6-7 hours of hiking but were so happy with the amazing day we had. The long ass drive from Silverton to Evergreen waited us and all three of us were tired, but we wouldn’t have traded in this day for anything. I highly recommend the Ice Lake & Island Lake hike and would do it again in a heartbeat. If I had to choose one lake, it would certainly be Ice Lake, but I do think that Island Lake is worth your time, especially since it barely adds anything to your mileage.
