{"id":10528,"date":"2014-09-28T22:36:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T04:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=10528"},"modified":"2014-09-28T22:36:12","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T04:36:12","slug":"meridian-lake-fall-hike-23-sept-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/meridian-lake-fall-hike-23-sept-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Meridian Lake Fall Hike (23 Sept 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Meridian
Meridian Lake (also called Long Lake), with fabulous fall colors and
\nWhetstone towering behind.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meridian Lake is lovingly called “Long Lake” by locals. Why? Because the lake is very long and skinny! A popular swimming spot, this lake also makes a great area for hiking, especially to enjoy the fall colors.<\/p>\n

The trailhead is currently unmarked, and starts at the winter closure of Washington Gulch, when the road becomes dirt. Immediately, the trail crosses the stream.
\n\"Meridian<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For about 1\/4 of a mile, the trail travels through a forest and is very steep.
\n\"Meridian<\/p>\n

After reaching the top of the steep hill, Meridian Lake is revealed.
\n\"Meridian<\/p>\n

The fall colors were magnificent.
\n\"fall<\/p>\n

\"fall<\/p>\n

The trail sweeps around to the right before climbing the ridge across the other side of the lake.
\n\"Long<\/p>\n

As I climbed, the fall colors kept getting better.
\n\"fall<\/p>\n

The peak of Mount Crested Butte framed by golden aspens.
\n\"Mount<\/p>\n

Gothic behind rainbow trees.
\n\"fall<\/p>\n

\"fall<\/p>\n

Mount Crested Butte looking mighty and majestic.
\n\"mount<\/p>\n

Avery Peak in the distance.
\n\"Avery<\/p>\n

The colors were wonderful on this stormy day.
\n\"fall<\/p>\n

\"fall<\/p>\n

\"fall<\/p>\n

A view of Meridian Lake (Long Lake) from above.
\n\"Long<\/p>\n

Another view of Mount Crested Butte with Meridian Lake below.
\n\"Mount<\/p>\n

Gothic Mountain in the shadows.
\n\"Gothic<\/p>\n

Another view of Gothic Mountain with the trail in the foreground.
\n\"Gothic<\/p>\n

The top of the ridge provided great views of mountains highlighted with fall colors, like this one of Avery.
\n\"Avery<\/p>\n

Gothic once again, decorated in fall hues.
\n\"Gothic<\/p>\n

After spending some time on the ridge highpoint, I retraced my tracks back to the lake shore. Instead of retreating down the steep path through the forest, I continued eastward for about 1\/4 mile to descend via a closed road.
\n\"road<\/p>\n

One more view of Mount Crested Butte.
\n\"Mount<\/p>\n

I followed the old road to its intersection with Washington Gulch Road, where I headed back west to the parking lot. Along the way, I took time to admire the last bits of clinging summer (Blanketflower).
\n\"flowers<\/p>\n

Want to do this hike yourself?<\/h2>\n

\"getdirections_button\"<\/a>\"ViewMap_Button\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meridian Lake is lovingly called “Long Lake” by locals. Why? Because the lake is very long and skinny! A popular<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crested-butte","category-hiking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10528"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10532,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528\/revisions\/10532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}