Square Top Lakes- near Guanella Pass

Here is the Trailhead, there is a toliet and map. Usually lots of parking here. Its busy on the other side of the road to climb Mt Bierstadt.

Here is the narrow trail up to the lakes.

I love the unusual vegetation and little creeks you find along the way.

The trail is 4.2 miles round trip with a 600 ft gain elevation.

There are lots of willow plants.

Here you can see the lakes you will pass.

Here is the first lake.

The second lake is larger.

Looking down to the first lake below.

We like to drive back through Georgetown along rt 70 to see the beautiful aspens along the road.

SquareTop Lakes Trail near Guanella Pass

We drove to the top of Guanella Pass 11,700 ft and parked at the summit. Here we begin the climb up. The vegetation was so different above treeline. There were lichens, grasses, and scrubbrush.

Because this hike is entirely above treeline, this hike had entirely different vegetation than what I was used to.

We can see SquareTop peak  13,794 elevation in the distance.

This was the first dried up tarn (or mountain pool) we passed by.

Some parts were steep, but it leveled out in spots too.

We passed a stream along the way.

We finally made it to squaretop lake.

Coming back down we enjoyed the views of neighboring peaks.