Overnight at Fancy Lake in the Holy Cross Wilderness – In late-June, with the snow line finally withdrawing higher and higher, I got out for my first backpacking trip of the summer.

Fancy Lake in the Holy Cross Wilderness fills a steep-walled bowl at 11,500 in the Sawatch Range. For some reason after all these years, I still hadn’t hiked this one so at 2.7 miles and 1523′ of climbing to the lake, it seemed like a good first outing for a quick overnight.

I got hit by some storms, enjoyed a surprise full moon, and stupidly climbed up the Fancy Pass snowfield without crampons to witnessed one of the better sunrises I’ve seen in recently memory.

Pretty solid first overnight of 2020.

*If you think this spot is beautiful and you are going to try to visit it yourself, please remember that there are rules in the backcountry. Familiarize yourself with the leave no trace principles and make sure you’re aware of any fire restrictions in the area.*

There are no fires permitted in the Fancy or Missouri Lakes Basin!!
(It’s your own fault you’re soaking wet from the storm… you should have planned better!)