October 13, 2024
Arrival at Vail Village
I spend a lot of time in Eagle County, Colorado. So it was only a matter of time before I tried the much-hyped Booth Falls trail. The timing was more or less an accident. I’d overheard that this weekend in October was the last for the “hiker express” bus between Vail Village and the Booth Lake/Booth Falls trailhead.
I thought about it and realized this was maybe the perfect weekend to tackle this “instagram-famous” hike. It was shoulder season in ski country. Vail was no longer offering scenic gondola rides. The farmers market was done for the year. The brilliant Fall foliage was fading, with dead leaves now lining the forest floors. So I figured, the hike would be mostly empty.
Maybe I should back up here. Booth Falls is a somewhat tall and dramatic waterfall, tucked away in the rugged Gore Range above the Vail Valley. If you visit Vail or Beaver Creek in the summer and ask someone—anyone—”Hey, what’s a really nice hike round these parts?” they’ll probably tell you this one.
One does not simply park at Booth Lake. You need to park in the Vail Village parking garage. The garage is free in summer (just make sure you don’t accidently park in the Solaris Garage). From there a free bus takes you to the trailhead in the tony, quiet suburbs of East Vail.
Hiking out of East Vail
Upon boarding the bus, it seemed my strategy was well-reasoned. It wound up being a private bus ride. Just me and the driver to the Booth Falls trailhead. Hooray!
I disembarked and began walking up the quiet residential streets towards the trailhead proper. No-parking signs abounded. This reminded me of hikes in the Bay Area, where equally wealthy homeowners zealously guard their coveted curb space. It’s not that they need to park on street. It’s just they’re paying far too much in property taxes to look out their window and see, like, a honda parked outside. Dear god.
Soon enough I left behind the mansions and condominiums of East Vail for the dusty lower slopes of the Booth Creek trail. I trudged up the lower switchbacks and towards Booth Creek.
Into the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness
I’m probably not doing a great job selling you on this hike. But then again, this hike doesn’t need selling. As evidenced by all the parking garage/bus shenanigans.
But I was genuinely excited to get up towards Booth Falls (and, little did I know, Booth Lake). Despite spending lots of time in Eagle County, I had never ventured into the rugged peaks of the Gore Range north of I-70. The craggy summits tower a mile above Gore Creek and the town of Vail. There are no 14ers in the range. None of the summits have well-marked or well-traveled trails. They are steep and choss-riddled. A few of the peaks on the Summit County side are more trafficked.
My hike today would only take me about halfway up into this range. But it was still novel territory.
Soon enough I entered the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness, which engulfs much of the Gore Range. By this point in October, most of the aspens were devoid of leaves. I could see up, above their missing canopy, to the steep red-rock walls of the drainage. Any doubts I had about this hike vanished from my mind: this was a very beautiful hike.
A shifting objective
Roughly a month prior I had sprained my MCL bouldering. This hike was among my first “beefier” outings after that incident. And my original objective was Booth Falls. Booth Falls sits about 1,300 vertical feet above the trailhead, and under 4 miles round trip.
But the dozen or so hikers I passed that day (mostly locals at this point in the shoulder season) kept telling me the same thing: “yes, well the falls are alright. But the lake … ugh the lake is gorgeous!“
I wasn’t exactly fully-prepared for the lake. It sat a much beefier 3,000 vertical feet above the trailhead. It was a 10-mile out-and-back. I had only brought one liter of water, a very light sweater, and no snacks. It wasn’t a particularly great idea to 3X my objective.
Booth Falls
Soon enough I reached Booth Falls. In mid-October the falls were hardly voluminous. But they were indeed tall and dramatic. I was a bit bummed at how hard it was to get close to them and soak them in properly. But they were a solid waterfall by Colorado standards.
I took stock of the situation. There were plenty of hours of daylight left. I could go for the lake. I might miss the final “hiker express” bus. But I could always grab the local East Vail line. Plus there were a pair of friends also hiking up to the lake, a short ways ahead of me. I wouldn’t be all alone up there. I decided to go for it.
En route to Booth Lake
The trail climbed onward above the falls. The aspens had been replaced by (sparse) evergreens. The walls of the drainage grew shorter, as the valley floor rose to match them.
And—perhaps not that surprising in retrospect—the views to the south opened up. I turned around and was delighted to see the slopes of Vail ski resort across the valley. As an avid skier, October is around the time I grow wistful for my favorite winter activity. This was a somewhat unique view of Vail’s Northeast Bowl, with the 14er Mount of the Holy Cross looming above in the far background.
Booth Lake
The air grew increasingly brisk and the bushes increasingly orange as I approached Booth Lake. This was October in the Rockies at its finest. The trail steepened approaching the lake’s terminal moraine. I tried to make quick work of the final push.
Finally I reached Booth Lake. The other hikers had not exaggerated … the scene was quite beautiful! The pair of (quite fit) hikers ahead of me left just as I was arriving. So I had the place to myself for a nice, quiet break. I sat on the bare rocks and soaked in the alpine basin. The rocky slopes above the lake pushed beyond tree line. “The Spider” and West Partner peak rose above on opposite sides. The latter tops out near 13,000 feet.
I couldn’t linger too long. I didn’t have any snacks to eat, and only a light sweater I’d need for the descent anyways. Plus there was still some hope in catching the final “hiker express bus.” And so I began the long, five-mile descent back to East Vail. Booth Lake was in the books.
