Looking South onto Upper Ice Lake and surrounding mountains. The water is an incredible shade of blue that is unlike any lake I've ever seen. You can see our tent just beyond the outlet stream.

Another view of Island Lake.

The incredible Island Lake. I've been scoping this lake out for several years now, and happy that I finally got to see one of Colorado's finest alpine lakes. After a long first day hiking up to the Upper Ice Lake Basin, we decided to head out to Island Lake. The trail is just a short 20 minute hike from Upper Ice Lake, unfortunately there's a couple spots that are slippery and have some exposure. Oneea and Kris weren't feeling too comfortable with the terrain, so they stayed back and let me head up to Island Lake on my own. I found it quickly, and couldn't believe I was the only person to be found in this incredible setting! I walked about 3/4 of the way up the Pass, and took this shot looking down on the Lake. Just over the near mountains sits Upper Ice Lake and our tent.

Fall colors starting to show along the trail to Island Lake. This hiker, along with many of the people we met, was from Durango, CO and was heading to Island Lake to camp for several nights. The lake in the center is Upper Ice Lake...we were camped on the near shore right by the outlet stream. If you click on a larger size of this photo, you'll be able to see our little, yellow REI tent.

Looking East from the Upper Ice Lake outlet stream. This stream served as our water source for 3 days, and also worked well as a beer cooler for the budweiser's I hauled up the trail.

Admiring the view from our sitting rock just near our campsite.

I think they were strategizing about their "potty spots" when I snuck in this picture.

Our home in Colorado's version of paradise. Oneea and Kris can be seen in the distance by the lakeshore.

Sunset panorama taken from the bluffs above Lower Ice Lake Basin looking East towards Bear Mountain.

The exact same spot as the first picture...only a few minutes before sunrise....as you can see, the light from the morning sunrise makes all the difference!

An early morning view of Pilot Knob. A lot of people climb these mountains...I was content to just look up and admire...here's a link for more info on the mountains in the area if you feel like climbing them! http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/152925/pilot-knob.html

The trail that leads to Upper Ice Lake

Us at 12,500 ft

A full view of Upper Ice Lake

On our final day, we hiked above Upper Ice Lake to go even higher and check out the saddle between Golden Horn and Pilot Knob...this was the view looking back down at Upper Ice Lake.

Our one and only group shot taken above Upper Ice Lake just before we headed back down to the Lower Basin for our last night of camping.

Kris getting some waterfall photos with her new Nikon DSLR camera. I think she learned a lot of valuable photo lessons on this trip, and will hopefully get to apply them on some future backpacking adventures!

On the way back to reality, we stopped off in Grand Junction to see my sister, John and the kids. Was great to see everyone and have some good food at Red Robin before getting back on I70 for the long drive back to Boulder.