Hike to Lava Lake

Need some exercise (:))! Off to a local favorite hike, which we've never done before. A 6-mile round trip hike to Lava Lake, off 191 north of Big Sky. After watching Wimbledon for a couple of hours, the kids finally emerged from sleep to join the expedition. A short drive later and we arrived at the trailhead. The gradual steady uphill hike was just what the doctor ordered for our exercise starved crew. Nice wildflowers. Nice birds. Hermit thrush. Swainson's thrush. Possible western tanager, but couldn't make it out. After 1.5 hrs of near nonstop trudging, we arrived at Lava Lake to whoops and hollers of other hikers jumping into the 50-some degree water. We watched an immature bald eagle flying from tree to tree along the lake's edge. Fish were rising all over the lake. Beautiful scene. We ate lunch and watched while Colin slowly submerged himself as slowly and painfully as possible into the water. The rest of us were not so bold. We did some botanizing on the way down - yellow columbine, indian paintbrush, engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, baneberry, arnica, numerous vacciniums, and a host of other beautiful flowers. We highly recommend this hike for visitors to Big Sky, and this is a nice time of year with all the flowers and birds. Pictured above is your reward at the end of the trail!