Bierstadt Lake Trailhead — Attraction in Four Corners States

We stopped here on our way back on the shuttle from Glacier Gorge and hiked up to Bierstadt Lake, then back to the Park & Ride.

The first 0.9-mile stretch is pretty difficult. I recorded our hike via AllTrails, and we ascended about 600' over that stretch. If my math is correct, that's an average grade of about 12.5%, which ain't easy. Compounding our "misery" was that there's little to no tree cover here once you get about a quarter-mile in, and we did it on a warm July afternoon. Fortunately, we had plenty of water with us. The good news was, once that first mile was out of the way, the remaining 1.7 were almost entirely downhill. And better shaded by trees, as well.

You do have different options for hiking from here, too. You could do what we did but, instead of getting into a random vehicle at the Park & Ride, take the Bierstadt Moraine Trail back to this point, more or less following Bear Lake Rd. Up at Bierstadt Lake, there are two other trails that branch off - one headed WSW toward Bear Lake and Flattop Mountain, and the other headed north toward Upper Mill Creek (which further splits toward Hollowell Park or Cub Creek and Moraine Park and Fern Lake and so many...

Underrated hike and lake that most (in my opinion) people tend to ignore or not stop by. If you have the opportunity and time try this trail!! It is worth doing and the views and lake is beautiful!

The trail: you start of by getting dropped off at the shuttle point, and begin your ascent upwards and switch backs. There are tall trees and bigger alpine ones at top. The switch backs isn’t too difficult but there is a lot of animal droppings throughout.

Endpoint: at the end you can stop by at the lake or continue other hikes. I continued with the trail that connected to the shuttle stop and go lot, nice backcountry descent trail.

The lake: very pretty and amazing backdrop! Worth visiting! Lots of little unofficial trails that people have created just make sure you follow the official ones and...

very underrated moderate to hard trail - keep it underrated and low key. one of our favorites trails - the switchbacks provide incredible views safely. look for mileposts as you can easily get lost in the switchbacks and glorious views - we lost the trail for sometime and finally had to rejoin after some dangerous cliff side down trails. the lake is great but most people might get disappointed with the lake view - the point of the trail is the views from switchbacks...