Backpacking to Lone Eagle Peak Colorado

Colorado continues to amaze me on a regular basis. There are so many places I have yet to discover in this wonderful state. One place that had been on my list for several years was Lone Eagle Peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. 

This was not an easy place to get to. This spectacular stand-alone mountain peak requires an 8-mile hike, and for half of the year, it requires permits to enter the parking area and camp.

Here is some information taken from the forest service’s website: 

• Permits are required for overnight stays in the Indian Peaks Wilderness from June 1 to September 15
• Permits are available for purchase at recreation.gov. ​
• There is a $5 fee for each camping permit.
• Some trailheads require additional use fees (see Brainard Lake Recreation Area and Arapaho National Recreation Area).

These permits go on sale on a set date in March every year and sell out almost instantly. They also release any returned permits three days in advance. Sadly, we have not been able to get permits any of the three years we have tried.

Instead, we chose to hike to Lone Eagle Peak on the first weekend after permits were required, September 17th - 19th 2021.

Watch our journey to Lone Eagle Peak in my YouTube video below:

Friday Night:

We arrived at the Monarch Lake Trailhead around 6 PM Friday night. The goal was to make it as far as we could and setup camp about halfway up the trail to Crater Lake and Lone Eagle Peak. We only had a few hours before dark, so we quickly strapped up our backpacking gear and hit the trail.

From the Monarch Lake trailhead.

7.3 miles to Crater Lake!

Read about the backpacking gear I carried for the 2021 season to see what I loved and what I can’t wait to replace next year here!

Picture of my backpacking gear from The Four Pass Loop earlier this summer.

From Monarch Lake, we went north on the trail as long as we could until it got dark and cold. The hike was a fairly gradual incline, and we sped through the first stretch in under 2 hours. We made it near the four-mile mark and found a flat spot to camp along the side of South Boulder Creek. ​

See the trail we followed on The All Trails App here! 

Saturday:

The start of Saturday morning. the fall foliage was just starting.

We woke up early Saturday morning to complete the hike and make it to our final destination. There were parts that were much steeper on the second day, and as we got closer and closer, the trail kept getting more difficult. 

​This was true until we got out of the forested portion and could see the mountains.

The trail opened up into a massive boulder field and leveled out a bit. We completed the last three and one half miles in under 2 hours and arrived at Mirror Lake below Lone Eagle Peak absolutely stunned by how distinctly unique Lone Eagle Peak stood out against the rest of the mountain range.

Lone Eagle Peak from Mirror Lake.

The view from the lake was nearly surreal. Even though it was an overcast day, there was a perfect reflection of the peak in the lake that made us see just how fitting the name Mirror Lake is. Before we sat down to enjoy the views for an extended period, we found our campsite and set up our tent. ​

Our campsite under Lone Eagle Peak.

There were lots of people arriving for the day and others leaving to continue hiking, so campsites seemed sparse. We snagged one from a large group who was leaving and took our time unpacking and making the site picture perfect. We cooked a delicious dehydrated meal for lunch and soaked in all of the sunshine and mountain views we could.

​Read about the dehydrated meals I prepared for all of our trips this year in my “Healthy Dehydrated Meal Prep Guide” here!

Maria at Crater Lake.

After lunch, we walked a little further up the trail to Crater Lake. This lake is much bigger, so we carried our fishing gear and attempted to catch some dinner. We had no luck fishing, but we couldn’t complain with the landscape surrounding us and the wonderful day with which we had been blessed.

When the sun started to set, we cooked another dehydrated meal for dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags for the night. We went to sleep so content with the day we had had and how much this place had lived up to its hype.

One very happy family!

Sunday:

We woke on Sunday morning sad to be leaving but motivated to get down to our car quickly to make our way back home and unpack. The eight-mile descent seemed like a breeze, since we knew the trail from our hike up. We noted each spot where we had stopped on the way up and continued past them with ease. We made it down to the trailhead from our campsite at Mirror Lake in 3 and one half hours. 

Early morning selfie before leaving.

We were so proud to have completed this unreal hike and so excited to share our photos with our friends to let them know what is out there to explore. We hope to be able to come back and actually scale the mountain via a route called “Solo Flight” one day. This will take some planning and preparation, but we want to continue making our goals and plans bigger and better!

Watch more from our trip to Lone Eagle Peak in my video below, and see more Colorado adventures on my YouTube Channel!

Read more of our Colorado backpacking adventures below:

Backpacking Yellowstone National Park
Camping Among the Dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park 
​Completing the 30-mile Four Pass Loop - Backpacking from Aspen to Crested Butte