Donut Lake

Mohawk "Donut" Lake

For those of you who haven’t heard me rambling about hiking, or the seen the many mountain pictures on my Instagram feed, I love Colorado. I’ve gone at least a year for as long as I can remember so I have many memories of hiking adventures. But the one that stands out the most to me is Donut Lake.

Our expedition to Donut Lake took place one summer in Breckenridge when I was around 12 years old. My younger brother was less than a year old at that point and couldn’t go on long hikes, so one day my older brother and I went for a longer hike with just our family friends Justin and Sheena. Justin and Sheena were barely in their thirties, tons of fun, and two of the people I looked up most to in the world. I was so excited to go hiking with them.  The morning of the hike, we devoured a dozen donuts between the four of us, drove up to the trail head and got started.

 The hike was supposed to be an easy two mile walk up to a series of lakes. The first 15 minutes went really smoothly: the trail was beautiful and not crowded at all. The only person anywhere near us was a college aged guy a couple minutes behind us. And then, somehow, we lost the trail.

There are lots of ways that trails can be marked: the more populated ones have wooden signs with arrows to tell people where to go but basically every trail has markers of three stacked stones every couple hundred feet to reassure people that they were still on the trail. This hike had neither, and as a result we ended up going right when we were supposed to go left.

 What ensued was hours of crossing streams, climbing up and down little ravines, and fighting our ways through waist deep fields of snow. It was simultaneously terrifying and the most fun I’ve ever had. It wasn’t really to the expedition level of those Alaskan survival shows, but in my 12year old brain it was pretty close. Whereas my mom would have probably made us turn around and go back, Justin and Sheena were up for the adventure and we trekked on (still making sure that we stayed safe). Eventually, we got up to the top of a ridge and saw a gorgeous, crystal clear lake surrounded by mountains in front of us. Never have I been so excited to see a body of water before. Having no idea that this was actually Mohawk Lake, the lake we were trying to get to, we christened our discovery “Donut Lake” after our pre-hike breakfast.

We eventually figured out that it was actually the lake we were supposed to get to, and took the easy trail back down instead of recreating our cross-terrain journey, but to my brother, Justin, Sheena and I it will forever be Donut Lake, and one of our favorite memories.


Comments

  1. CatalinSeptember 27, 2018 at 11:54 AM

    This is a great story. I also love hiking. I remember this summer my dad and I went on a hike up to the top of this mountain in Iceland. My mom and little brother didn't really want to go, so my dad and I decided to go alone. Though we didn't get lost like you did, we also struggled to get up, as it got very steep. At the end of the hike I fell into a river trying to jump across it, so that's what I'll always remember that hike as.

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  2. Minji ChoiSeptember 28, 2018 at 8:25 AM

    I also have a very similar experience. When I was on the French trip, Faizah and I got lost in one of the cities. We were panicking at first but we got distracted by the beautiful view so we decided to explore more and find a solution later. We eventually found our way back to the dorm, and it was one of the most memorable experiences on the trip.

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  3. MajerusOctober 3, 2018 at 10:00 AM

    Great story! I love hiking, and while I try not to stray from the path (since that's the lowest impact way to go, in terms of preserving wilderness), sometimes you don't have a choice (and those times can be extra fun, even if a little scratchy, snowy, or wet at certain moments).

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  4. UnknownOctober 8, 2018 at 4:03 PM

    I love this because it shows that sometimes mistakes can turn into a fun adventure! I love hiking and we should definitely go on hike together! I also enjoyed the picture because it gave me some context of where you went. Also proud of you for completing the hike :)

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