Chicago Lakes

Chicago Lakes are two lakes in a glacial cirque under the north face of Mount Blue Sky, the peak renamed from Mount Evans in 2023, reached from Echo Lake on the Mount Blue Sky road by a 4.5-mile trail that drops to a reservoir, climbs through a 1978 burn, and enters the Mount Evans Wilderness. The grade is gentle for the length, the lower lake at 11,400 feet sits under 2,000-foot cliffs, and the round trip is 9 miles with 1,400 feet of gain, plus the climb back out to Echo Lake at the end.

From the Echo Lake picnic area, the trail circles the lake's west shore, then drops about 500 feet on switchbacks to the Idaho Springs Reservoir road. Walk the road along the reservoir's east side, through a quarter mile of private land where the signs ask you to stay on the road, to the wilderness boundary at the reservoir's south end.

The trail climbs steadily through the standing dead trees and regrowth of the 1978 Chicago Lakes burn, with the cirque walls of Mount Blue Sky and Mount Spalding rising ahead, to Lower Chicago Lake at about 11,400 feet. Upper Chicago Lake is a half mile farther and 350 feet higher, over rock, in the head of the cirque with the cliffs on three sides. Return the same way; the climb from the reservoir back to Echo Lake is the last 500 feet of the day.

Echo Lake is at the junction of Colorado 103 and the Mount Blue Sky road, 14 miles south of Idaho Springs on the paved Squaw Pass road. Park at the Echo Lake picnic area lot on the lake's north side, free, with toilets; the Echo Lake Lodge lot is for customers. The lot fills by 8 AM on summer weekends. No fee for the trail, but the Mount Evans Wilderness requires a free self-issued permit at the trailhead box; the mountain itself was renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023, while the wilderness keeps the old name until Congress changes it. The Mount Blue Sky road above the lake has its own fee and reservation system, and the road and the Echo Lake area were closed for construction in 2024 and 2025; check the Clear Creek Ranger District page for the current status before driving up.

Dogs must be on a hand-held leash in the wilderness and on the reservoir road. The length is why this is not marked kid-friendly; the walk to the reservoir is a good family turnaround. Carry two liters and a filter; the lakes are the water. The reservoir is Idaho Springs' water supply and is closed to swimming, wading, and dogs. The burn's dead trees fall in wind. Idaho Springs has the services. The Idaho Springs hikes page has St. Mary's Glacier, and the Mount Blue Sky guide covers the road above.