Mountains, Wildflowers, & Waterfalls: Diamond Lake (Nederland, Colorado)
In early August of 2021, I had the opportunity to visit Colorado during the warmer months for the first time. One of my best friends lived in Denver at the time, and Ryan and I squeezed in a short visit before my fall semester began. Last time I was here was January, so everything was covered in snow, but on this trip, we were blessed with perfect warm weather and sunshine for our alpine lake hike.
Diamond Lake is a long-ish trail at 5.4 miles out-and-back, but it’s only a moderate difficulty (and I would really argue mostly easy). The trailhead is at the very back of a seasonal road that opens every 4th of July. You must get there early to find parking! The trail gets pretty busy during good weather, and there is limited parking for the Diamond Lake trailhead. Lost Lake is the hike that departs from the first parking area, and while it has more parking, walking to the Dimond Lake trailhead from here will add several miles to your trip (as we’ll learn by the end of this story).
This is one of my all-time favorite trails because of how beautiful the views are right from the start. I mean, look at these wildflowers! There were meadows full of them, and it was especially beautiful when the valley opened up to a field of flowers with the mountains in the background.
Towards the beginning of the trail, you’ll see a magnificent waterfall cascading down the mountain in the distance. There are numerous creeks, streams, and smaller waterfalls throughout the trail. We hiked off on a side-trail for a few minutes to find the waterfall with the huge boulders to climb.
I’d just gotten a LifeStraw, so these beautiful Colorado mountain streams gave me some deliciously cold water to test it out on! We were also joined on this hike by the incomparable adventure pup, Kindi, looking adorable in her wildflower-matching bandana.
Diamond Lake itself does not disappoint. It’s a gorgeous alpine lake bordered by mountains and meadows of wildflowers. There are large rocks along the edge that make the perfect resting spot. I would recommend walking the trail around the edge of the lake to the stream that feeds it for another mini-waterfall sighting.
On our hike back to the car, we passed lots of families and individual hikers who asked with trepidation how much further it was to the lake. It’s important to remember that the high altitude in Colorado can affect your ability to hike at the level you normally would, and you should bring sturdy hiking boots and lots of water, especially on hot days in the mountains. I’m lucky that I don’t get altitude sickness or feel much, if any, adverse effects, but I know many people who do!
It was at this point, nearly back to the trailhead, that we passed a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early 20’s, hiking alone with a full face of makeup and pristine leggings and Nike free-runs, and she asked how far she was from the lake. We said this was the beginning of the trail, and she seemed confused. We continued on to the car, went to the bathroom, and ate lunch. When we started driving back down the miles-long dirt road out of there, we saw that same girl walking along the side, so we offered to pick her up. I figured she was just one of the Gen Z wannabe social media influencers who wasn’t actually prepared to do a real hike and turned around after only a quarter-mile. However, it turned out that she’d parked at the Lost Lake trailhead because she was told there was no more parking at Diamond Lake, the trail she’d initially planned on doing with her family. Her family had either hiked Lost Lake instead or driven to and parked at the Dimond Lake trailhead, getting a miles-long head start. Meanwhile, our hitchhiker had hiked the 4 miles or so down this road, thinking it was part of the 5.4-mile lake trail, and been unable to get in contact with her family. That would have been one long hike if she’d kept going!
Thanks for reading! If you want to read about my other adventures in Colorado, go here.