Emerald Lake San Juans

Yeah sorry about that. Just trying to get the party started.

My main questions are if late June is too early(It’s a timing thing) Don’t mind snow if it’s that packed down version you can walk on. And in all trails they mentioned last summer there were a bunch of blown down trees to navigate.

Is that accessing Emerald Lake from the south from Lime Mesa? I've done most of that route (not the part descending to the lake--I traversed the ridge to the west instead.) It was in September, so no knowledge of snow conditions, but the part of the hike from Lime Mesa to the descent to Emerald Lake is pretty flat-ish, very open, easy navigation, so I would think some hard snow would be no big issue. If it's post-hole-ish snow, that's another story, of course.

HOWEVER, the drive to this hike is long and punishing, over some very exposed roads that I'd not want to drive with any snow/ice on them. After the exposed stretch, the last stretch is on a 4WD road that was accessible in my standard AWD SUV until it wasn't: I stopped about a half mile short of where I "should have" parked and walked the road which was becoming increasingly rough. I think the deciding factor for June would probably be the drive moreso than the hike.

I was assuming Marmotstew was talking about the much bigger Emerald Lake that is up the Emerald Lake trail that branches off from the Pine River Trail, not the smaller Emerald Lake near Ruby Lake below Lime Mesa... How many Emerald Lakes and Blue Lakes ARE there in Colorado?

That is the one. Hiking along pine river looks enticing with the fishing opportunities. And lakes shouldn’t be allowed to have the same name in the same mountain range. It’s a travesty.

I visited that Emerald Lake in 2004. It was part of an almost-loop trip going up Vallecito, following one creek up to the divide and another back down to Pine River and back out a few miles from where I started. Just going up Pine River to Emerald Lake could be an overnighter or a weekend trip.

I enjoyed it a great deal. There had been some fire in the area and some flood damage. Since then I believe there's been more of the latter, especially on the Vallecito side.

Was that Flint Creek? That's what connects to Rock Creek at the Divide, and Rock Creek connects to Vallecito. There is a bridge over Flint Creek, that if washed out would make for a dangerous crossing in high water.