Пешеходный маршрут к озеру Лава: опасный переход у шоссе и живописное озеро

Trail Review: Lava Lake The best hikes lead to a body of water, in my humble opinion, and Lava Lake is a pretty amazing body of water. But let’s start from the beginning. The hardest part of this hike, strangely, occurs before you even get to the trailhead. I arrived at Lava Lake around noon, much too late to secure a coveted parking spot by the beginning of the trail, so I had to park in the overflow parking lot, right off U.S. Highway 191. After parking in this lot, there’s a bridge over the Gallatin River that hikers cross to get to the trail. Hikers must shimmy their way between the rusted iron railing and a concrete wall separating them from the highway while cars go whizzing by. There is no highway shoulder to walk on instead, and I can’t emphasis enough how narrow this passageway is. On the way back, I even noticed that some screws on the rusted railing were loose, adding an extra layer of difficulty to an already nerve-wracking passage. Despite all my cynicism about this bridge, I would gladly hike this trail again. Lava Lake is a popular destination and is probably best done as a morning hike. Get there early and you’ll get a much better parking spot and will have more space on the actual trail. I don’t hate crowded hikes, but this trail can get quite busy. On the bright side, I saw so many different people hiking on the trail: families with young children, solo hikers, teenagers, older hikers, lots of dogs and several groups of friends. It gives you a real sense of community to hike on a trail that so many other people seem to love, even if it does make it awkward to negotiate passageway on narrow sections of the hike. The actual climb to the lake took me an hour-and-a-half, and that includes several water and snack breaks and a few breaks just to enjoy the scenery and listen to the rush of the Gallatin River’s Cascade Creek that follows you almost to the top of the hike. According to AllTrails, the elevation gain is 1,604 feet, and the out-and-back hike is 5.2 miles. It’s not exceptionally steep, but it is a steady incline all the way to the top. You’ll cross the creek a few times, the last of which includes a nice, rustic wooden bridge. The first two times I simply walked through the very narrow stream with my boots on and managed to keep my feet dry. On the way back, I actually took time to cool off by the river, and I loved how clean and crisp the water was. The best part of the hike is actually reaching the lake. The first view of the water once you move through the clearing of trees is spectacular. For rock enthusiasts, all the rocks surrounding the lake are likely made of granite gneiss. For normal people, the rocks are pretty sharp and jagged. The water is cool and clear and feels great to wade or swim in after your trek. On this warm Sunday afternoon, small groups of people congregated by the water on the north side of the lake—the side nearest to the trail—and enjoyed cooling off. I spent most of my time by the lake taking photos with my camera, writing notes in my journal, and admiring the beautiful view of the Gallatin Range and the comforting feeling of being nestled deep in the alpine valley. While sitting by the lake, the wind picked up a bit, and I had the feeling that a rainstorm was coming, so I started my descent down the trail. It took me almost an hour to get back down to the parking lot. I was rushing a bit because I could see the dark clouds through the gaps in the trees and could hear thunder from far away. It started drizzling when I was about five minutes away from the end of the trail. Unfortunately, I still had my arch-nemesis, the U.S. 191 highway bridge, to contend with.