Hiking Silver Dollar Lake Trail doesn’t just get you to one beautiful lake, not two, but three incredible alpine lakes. This area boasts many amazing hikes that you can choose from. Most people have an agenda of hiking their first 14er. Bierstadt is close by and still a class 1 climb, so it is very popular every day of the week when the season hits. We wanted something else and so we chose Silver Dollar Lake Trail. You will still get decent elevation gain and Murray Lake sits at 12,200′!

Getting to Silver Dollar Lake Trailhead

Let’s start with getting you to the trailhead. Since we are traveling around in our RV, we had to park at the lower parking lot at the start of Naylor Lake Road. So our stats are based off of that. There is another parking lot at the trailhead, but there are a lot of articles out there that say you need 4×4 or high clearance. We didn’t want to take the chance. During certain times of the year you may need that, but when we walked the road, we got passed by a Tesla, Volkswagon Beetle and we saw multiple cars that wouldn’t seem to be hard terrain vehicles at the second parking lot. There were multiple parking spots along the way as well.

The lower parking lot has a small lot for about 8 cars and then another small lot across the street for about 10 cars. You also have the ability to camp at the campground just down the road and still within walking distance to this spot.

Parking lot coordinates: 9.609535, -105.717894

Hike Silver Dollar Lake Trail

We quickly fell in love with this hike and July was a great time to experience this trail! There were a few water and a snow crossing, but this meant that the wild flowers were out in abundance!

Miles: 5.75
Elevation Gain: 1,500′
Trailhead Elevation: 10,700′
Parking Lot: Silver Dollar Lake Trailhead
Difficulty: Moderately Difficult. If you are not acclimated to the elevation it will be difficult.
Dogs: Allowed on a leash (most people did not honor this, so just be aware)
Time: It took us 2 hours.
Water Safety: See at end.

As you start out from the lower parking lot it is an immediate climb along the gravel road. You will reach the second parking lot at around .6 miles.

Pass a few cars and keep heading up and at around .7 you will see the trailhead sign to your left.

After a quick jaunt through the forest, you will come to a view of Naylor Lake and the surrounding mountains.

This trail is a continuous climb but the views are amazing! You might even see a few marmots and you will definitely hear the pikas playing and chatting.

The snow crossing was slippery but it provided a cool spot. This hike is mostly exposed so any place that was cool, was welcomed.

At around 2.4 miles you will reach Silver Dollar Lake. It can get very windy in this area. This makes for a somewhat tricky water crossing. If you have polls you will have no problems as it isn’t deep, it is more for balance.

If you plan to head up to Murray Lake, you have about .35 miles until you crest your final climb.

You’ll hit the shores of Lake Murray at 2.85 miles. It is absolutely gorgeous, so take it all in!

But you won’t be able to last too long in some parts in July as the mosquitos are horrendous! You can see swarms of them and if you head towards bushes to take pictures of wildflowers, they will find you!

This doesn’t look that steep, but this is, of course, your climb up from Silver Dollar Lake. But you are at the turnaround, so enjoy your descent on the way back to your car and open a cold one. You deserve it!

A Few Must Have Packing Items for the Trail

Repellant, if you want to spend more time at any of the lakes.
Sun screen because of the exposure and the sun is stronger at this elevation.
Water and plenty of it, especially if it is hot.
Snacks, but just a few, unless you want to spend more time at any of the lakes.
Poles, is a must if you are not used to continuous gain when you are hiking and if you need some balance assistance. They also help during the water crossings.
Good shoes, whether they are hiking or trail running shoes. The trail is rocky, muddy, snowy and scree.
Mole Skin if you are not used to the shoes that you are wearing or have blister problems. It’s a life saver.
Light jacket as it could be really warm at the trailhead, but then as you climb it can get cold and very windy. We always carry a packable jacket.

Hopefully you get to experience this beautiful trail. Let us know if you have!

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